Traces of You
by Datenshi No Uzumaki
Summary: Being confessed to and then walking away without answering shouldn't have transported Aomine and the rest of his former Teikou teammates to a different world, where there were familiar faces and creepy monsters after their lives. Wait, is that a female Kagami? [AoKaga]
1. Denial

_A pair of deep red eyes pierced through, causing a slight squeeze to the heart. The emotions behind the pair of slightly shining rubies seemed to radiate with clear confidence, and affirmation._

 _Then it was like the whole surrounding darkened, but only the one person in front was glowing with light. All sounds deafened, except for the words the owner of those red eyes spoke._

 _"I like you."_

Shooting up from the bed, Aomine Daiki was suddenly awakened. The tall teen nearly jumped when he heard a sound. He glanced over at his night stand to see his phone lighting up in the dark room, vibrating loudly against the wood.

The blue haired boy groaned, and reached over to his phone. He looked at the name, and also glanced at the time. Then he answered it. "What is it Tetsu?" He grumbled in his usual drawl.

" _Aomine-kun, you finally answered your phone._ " A monotonous voice replied.

The tall and tanned male turned over in his bed, the phone still to his ear. "Just say what it is you called to say, Tetsu." The grogginess still lingering in Aomine's head. It was not even nine at the evening yet. He thought he might have taken too long of a nap, and skipped out on dinner. He recalled his parents were coming home late.

" _Do not be alarmed, but I just wanted you to know, there has been an accident._ " The boy at the other line replied in his usual flat tone. Aomine blinked his eyes, and the sleepiness dispelled. He slowly sat up from his bed, staring out his window, into the night.

" _Kagami-kun is at the hospital._ "

Sapphire blue eyes widened.

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 **Traces of You**  
 **I** : _Denial_  
 **By** : Kat Lee V

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Aomine will never admit it to anyone, not even himself, that he rushed as fast as he could to the hospital, after the words that his friend uttered. He wasn't even sure of the real reason why he would feel panicked, and the need to go and check on a certain red headed power forward from a rivaling team. Aomine doesn't even remember when the days of rivalry turned into days of playing one-on-one every often, then hanging out together in eating joints or at the other's apartment. He never questioned how much closer the two have become, to the point that the other-

"Oh, it's Aomine Daiki, from Touou." A voice spoke, breaking his wandering thoughts.

Looking up, the blue haired boy found a group of familiar looking teenagers. If Aomine could recall, they were the senior students of Kuroko in his Seirin Team. They were just coming out from the hospital, nearly running into the tall male. The female coach looked up at the younger boy. "Came to visit too? Kuroko-kun is still in the room. You'll find them in room 510." She told.

Then the glasses wearing captain of the team narrowed his eyes. "And also remind Kuroko to not miss out in morning practice tomorrow. He can't use the excuse of staying late in the hospital for being late or missing practice." With nods of heads and small waves of their hands, the group of senior students of Seirin left the premise.

Aomine headed to the room he was told. He paused at the closed door, staring at the handle. Then it was suddenly opened, and he was greeted by an annoying face he really did not want to see at the moment. "Aomine-cchi!" The blond male at the door exclaimed. "You came!"

A scowl formed on the tanned male. "Che." He clicked his tongue, and forcefully pushed aside the shorter male. He walked into the room, ignoring the whining from the blond, crying from being pushed aside and ignored. Then Aomine stopped after three steps in, his eyes homing on to the unmoving figure on the bed.

There was only one bed in the room, with several chairs pushed against the walls for some moving room. There were machines overhead of the bed, with wires and tubes connecting to the red head. The same red headed male that bothered every thought for days. Now the same male was lying in the hospital bed, with features drastically different compared to how Aomine last saw him. Then there was the mask over the face, with bandages wrapped around his head. The Touou Ace couldn't move, as his breath was suck in his throat as he stared at the boy before him.

"He's really an idiot." A monotonous voice spoke.

Sharply raising his head up, Aomine felt his heart stop when he spotted the light blue haired boy, sitting at the other side of the bed. It was only then that he realized that the boy was there, recalling the Seirin captain mentioning the boy. "Tetsu."

Kuroko glanced down at his current Light, with his eyes glazed with emotion. "We were just heading home from practice. Then there was a girl running after a ball, going into the streets. There was a speeding car. Kagami-kun reacted faster..." It has been a long time since Aomine has seen Kuroko so distraught. Kise, the blond that Aomine remembered was also there in the room, came beside the shortest male, and sat beside him, placing his hand on Kuroko's shoulders, to comfort him. The light haired boy shakily exhaled. "It's just internal bleeding, and a concussion. Fortunately, there was no lasting injuries that will impede in his basketball career."

"But, everyone is really worried, because there might be the probability Kagami-cchi will slip into a coma." Kise looked up at the darker haired male, with a solemn expression. "He has yet to wake up."

Aomine gritted his teeth, mentally agreeing with Kuroko that the red head was an idiot. But, he knew, and everyone else that knew the red head well, just how kind Kagami really was. Though he won't intentionally act like the hero, the red head just had that instinct to help those that were in need. The tanned male tore his gaze away, and stared at the wall to his side. ' _Baka._ '

"Aomine-kun." The boy turned as his name was called. He looked into the eyes of his former teammate. Kuroko stared deeply, with a sheen of emotion glistening in his eyes. "Do you feel guilty?" He asked. Kise raised a brow, watching the younger boy. "You were confessed to by Kagami-kun, the other day. Yet, you didn't reply, and you ran away."

The blond male perked, and turned to stare at the tallest male. "Oh, I see!" He grinned softly. "Aomine-cchi just doesn't know, or want to admit that he likes Kagami-cchi too. And, now that Kagami-cchi is in this situation, Aomine-cchi blames himself, or that he is regretting not returning his feelings..."

"Shut up." Aomine hissed, glaring hard at the blond. He came up to Kise, and roughly grabbed the other male's shirt. "You don't know what you are saying, idiot."

Kuroko stood up, and placed a hand over the tanned male's hand. "Calm down. I was just teasing." He tried to pacify the tension. "Come on, let us go. It is getting late, and we all have school tomorrow." The darker male released the blond, and clicked his tongue, before walking out the room, just as abruptly as he came in.

When the three reached the lobby, Kuroko perked in recognizing two tall males coming in. "Himuro-san, Murasakibara-kun." He called out.

The Yousen double ace pair looked up, seeing the familiar people. Himuro smiled. "Leaving already?" He asked, just as a friendly formality. But there was a look of concern in his visible eye.

Kuroko nodded. "Yes. Kagami-kun is at room 510." He glanced over at the clock. "And you came all the way from Akita."

The older male smiled. "I had to." Himuro replied, then turned to the tallest male. "Will you come with me, or...?"

Murasakibara glanced over at his former teammates. "There is a 24 hour diner near by. Just call me." He replied in his usual drawl. Himuro patted his partner's upper arm, before heading deeper into the hospital.

"Excuse me." A small voice called out.

All heads turned, and then bent down to see a small little girl, tugging on the pants of Aomine. Kuroko slightly widened his eyes, then approached the girl with a kind smile. He crouched down, to be the same level of the girl. "Yes, what is it?" He asked in a gentle tone.

The girl became shy. "I... I saw all of you came out of that room with the Oniisan from earlier..." She started to visible fidget, tracing circles with her toe on the floor. "And I... I wanted to thank him." She said, with her head bowed.

Kuroko recognized the girl, and saw the small child bandages on her knees and one on her cheek. His gaze softened. "I am sorry, but the nice Oniisan is still sleeping. Maybe tomorrow he will be awake, then you can thank him." He replied.

The girl suddenly and nearly shoved her hand into Kuroko's face. The boy backed away, and then blinked his eyes to get a clear view. In the girl's palm was a beautiful red crystal like rock. The little girl looked up at the older boy. "Could... could you give this to the Oniisan? It's a gift to thank him for saving me." She flushed, slightly bowing her head. "It's a special rock, and I put all my prayer into it so that he'll get better quicker."

The light blue haired boy smiled, and gently took the rock from the girl's tiny hand. "Then I will make sure it gets to him."

The girl bowed, and twirled around, running to her parents. The two adults bowed their heads, before ushering their daughter out of the hospital. Kuroko stood up, watching the family. He then lifted his hand, and stared at the gift for Kagami. He turned his head to the darker blue haired male. "Here, Aomine-kun. You should be the one to give it to Kagami-kun."

"Hah!?" Aomine gave an incredulous expression towards the smallest male. "Why me? Why can't you, Tetsu?"

Kise smiled. "It will be a good excuse for you to come and visit Kagami-cchi, Aomine-cchi!"

The darker blue haired teen glared at the blond, and Kise backed way behind Kuroko. The lighter blue haired boy approached his former Light, and grabbed his hand. "It's better if it's you, Aomine-kun." Kuroko placed the red stone in the other's big hand.

Aomine stared at it for awhile. ' _The color... it looks like his ey-_ ' He shook his head, and looked up to see his friends walking out through the sliding doors of the hospital. The boy slipped the stone into his pocket, and hurried after his group.

"You and Himuro-san are staying here in Tokyo, Murasakibara-cchi?" Kise questioned, as they were walking the giant towards the diner.

The tallest male nodded lazily. "Muro-chin says he is going to stay here for awhile, and that I should return back to Akita tomorrow..." He sighs, scratching the back of his head. "It's Friday though. I'll be already missing school." He shrugged.

"Kise-kun should return back to Kanagawa. You have class too." Kuroko said sternly.

The blond clung to the smallest boy. "What? But it's okay! It's only Friday! I miss a lot of Fridays! They won't mind! I want to stay with Kuroko-cchi, and see Kagami-cchi when he wakes up." He slightly whined.

The light blue haired boy turned his head away from the blonde. "This is why you get bad grades, and you are an idiot..." He mumbled to the side. The blonde cried, while clinging on to the boy, claiming he wasn't stupid.

"Oh, what's this?" A voice called out with amusement. The four paused in their walk, and looked over to see a familiar tall green haired male with a shorted male with raven hair. "Is this a gathering of the Generation of Miracles?" The raven haired teen turned to his partner beside him. "You weren't invited, Shin-chan?"

The green haired male scowled, and raised his glasses over the bridge of his nose. "I don't care." He replied in his usual deep tone.

Kise grinned widely. "Midorima-cchi!" He looked around. "What are you guys doing here?"

Takao chuckled, amused of how defiant Midorima was trying to act. "Came all the way here just to get his lucky item for tomorrow." He pointed at the silly looking angler fish key chain the green haired male was carrying.

Midorima quickly clenched it into a fist, and stuffed it into his pocket. "You didn't have to say anything, Takao." He frowned, narrowing his eyes at the raven haired boy beside him.

With a chuckle, Takao playfully slapped the back of his partner. "Well, I'm off." Then he walked away, with his hands in the pockets of his jacket. He turned around and gave a two finger salute. "Have fun! And don't forget we have a mandatory practice session tomorrow, Shin-chan!" He winked, before walking down the street with a slight skip in his step.

About to protest, the green haired male's mouth was slightly open, but his partner was gone. Midorima slowly looked over at his former teammates, and scowled. "And why are you all here?" Then he looked directly at the tallest among them. "Especially you."

"We just came from the hospital." Kise replied. Midorima raised a brow.

"It's Kagami-kun. He has been in an accident." Kuroko spoke. The green haired boy looked as if he wanted to say something, but kept his mouth shut.

"I just came, because of Muro-chin." Murasakibara answered in his usual lazy drawl. He turned to the others. "Are we going to the diner now?"

The blonde grinned. "Hey! Wouldn't it be funny if Akashi-cchi also appeared? It's like a reunion or gathering of former Teikou Teammates!" Kise mused.

There was a snort. Aomine stuffed his hands into his pockets, and started to walk down the street. "Let's go Murasakibara. I skipped out on dinner. I'll join you at that diner." The tall purple haired male went to follow the dark blue haired male.

"Hey! Don't ignore me!" The blond pouted. He looked over to see Midorima with his back towards them, walking the opposite way. "Wait, Midorima-chhi!"

"How odd." A familiar voice spoke, and everyone stopped in place. They all looked up to never have expected their former captain. The red head was dressed in business casual, and he had a small smile of amusement. "It's very late, and you're all here."

Kuroko looked around, then back at the red head. "The same with you, Akashi-kun. You are here, all the way from Kyoto?"

The red head brushed a few bangs from his eyes. He thought they were getting longer. "I had some business here." Was Akashi's reply.

Kise laughed. "It's so funny! It's such a coincidence that we're all here together!"

Murasakibara reacted when he saw something from the corner of his vision. He looked down beside him, and saw a light glowing from the pocket of the dark blue haired boy. "Hey, Mine-chin, what's that in your pocket?" He questioned.

Aomine blinked, and looked to his pocket. He pulled out the object, and saw it was the red stone that the girl wanted to give to her comatose savior. It was glowing, and strange sparkles were radiating out of it. "What the-?"

There was a bright flash that engulfed the six young men, invading their vision, until they can only see darkness.

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"...!"

There was a sound, but he couldn't clearly hear it. Everything was muffled, or his whole brain was filled with cotton.

"Hey!"

The words slowly became clear, and his senses were turning back on. Sapphire blue eyes struggled to open. His vision was blurred, unable to make clear the faces of the two shadowed figures hovering over him. There was a bright sun overhead, behind one of those two figure's heads. But he lost the battle, as drowsiness took over, and his eyes rolled back.

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Shooting up to sitting, Aomine quickly placed a hand on his aching head, and he groaned. ' _Damnit, lesson learned. Never take gifts from little girls, or any child._ ' He messaged his temple, and then opened his eyes while straightening his back.

Sapphire blue eyes widened, and the boy stayed still with shock. Aomine found himself in no familiar place. He was sitting on just a laid out sheet, with another sheet pooling around his lap and draped over his legs, and a thin pillow at where his head was lying on. He saw five more people in the room, lying also on makeshift beds, lined up beside each other, three on one side, and three at the other. They were all in a rather empty room, bigger than his own room back at home. There was a long sheet covering one side of the wall, which he was guessing could be an entrance. The wall beside him had a smaller sheet, dimming down the light that was trying to come through. Though the room was a bit dark, he could see some cracks and painting coming off the walls. There were some missing panels on the ceiling, and long light bulbs missing above. There was a desk pushed to the side, and a chair beside it, resting against the wall. Above that desk were some wood plank shelves, but the most high one had come off on one side. The floor that they were lying on was hard, and the rug was kind of dirty with questionable stains.

Aomine looked over, as he saw that most of the others were rousing to consciousness. Beside him, he recognized the light blue hair. "Tetsu."

Kuroko sat up, the sheet covering him sliding down. He rubbed his eyes, and then looked up. He stiffened, also realizing that they were at an unknown place. "Aomine-kun?" He carefully called out.

"What happened?" Midorima demanded, having placed on his glasses that was lying there next to his head. He turned and glared at Aomine.

The darker blue haired boy raised his hands up defensively. "I don't know what the hell happened either!"

"It was that light that you took out from your pocket." Akashi replied. He pushed back the sheet, and stood up, straightening his clothes. He started to pat himself down, making sure that nothing on him was misplaced/

Kuroko looked over at Aomine. "Was it that stone that girl gave for you to give Kagami-kun?" He wondered.

"But where are we!?" Cried Kise. He leaped into Kuroko's chest, hugging him tightly. "Did we get kidnapped!? Are we prisoners!? Are we being held ransom for something?" The blond was becoming hysterical.

"Oi, keep yourself together, Kise!" Aomine hit the back of the blonde's head. Then Kise cried into Kuroko's chest, whining about how mean Aomine was. Kuroko just sighed, and shook his head.

"If we were prisoners," Akashi spoke up, and looked at the long sheet that was tacked to the wall, covering the only exit. "Then I don't think they are doing a good job guarding this place." He glanced down at the three at the corner, causing a ruckus. "Kise, go look outside." He commanded, with narrowed eyes.

"Eh!? Why me!?" The blond whined.

With a sigh, Kuroko pulled back the sheets, and stood up. "I'll do it."

"Wait! I'll come too! Someone has to protect you, Kuroko-cchi!" Kise scrambled up, and came up beside the shortest boy.

When they drew back the sheet, there were two girls standing at the other side of the door-less entrance. They looked up and squeaked in surprise. Kuroko and Kise blinked, not expecting to see two girls there. One looked like she was going to also draw back the curtain sheet. The other one had a tray with what looked like some medical supplies. The two girls bumped shoulders, sticking close to one another.

"E-Everyone is... awake..." She had chin length raven hair, with a black headband trying to push back the hair from her dark eyes. She was shorter than the other girl beside her.

The other girl turned her head, and started to whisper closely to the shorter girl's ear, while clutching on to the tray and pulling it close to her. This girl had brunette hair, pulled up into a high pony tail, with a few strands falling to frame her heart shaped face.

The raven bumped her hip against the taller girl, and looked up at the two boys smiling, a bit nervously. "Um... Sorry... but..." She took the taller girl's forearm, and then quickly ushered the girl down the hall way.

"Hey wait!" Kise came out of the room, and reached out a hand towards the two girls. They bother disappeared after turning a corner, with them shouting out a name both Kuroko and Kise couldn't hear clearly.

Kuroko and Kise walked back into the room they found themselves in, the sheet falling back to curtain the door-less entrance. Midorima scowled, found sitting on the only chair in the room. "What did you do?" He glared at mostly the blond.

Kise threw his hands up defensively. "Nothing!"

"Your face probably scared them off." Aomine snorted, as he gathered the sheets around him, and balling them up into a bigger pillow. He fell back on the floor, his head resting at the makeshift pillow.

"No!" The blond whined. Kuroko jabbed the boy's side, muttering for him to just be quiet.

Akashi turned around, and looked at the curtained window, with a sheet tacked above it. There was a light wind, and blew at the curtain lightly. The red head approached the window, and all eyes turned to watch their former captain. When he drew back the curtain, the red head stiffened, with his eyes widened with shock. Everyone that saw the rare expression, all became curious, and all gathered behind the red head.

"Wha-"

"No way..."

"Are you kidding me!?"

Skies were dreary with gray clouds blanketing the sky. Buildings were all windowless, while some buildings have broken down. Most lampposts were lying on the floor, or sticking out in strange directions. The streets were broken, with random gravel and a few broken down vehicles. Nature seemed to have taken over, with weeds growing through every crack on the concrete, and vines crawling up to eat the broken buildings and man made structures. There was no person in sight. In front of them was a post-apocalyptic scene.


	2. Disbelief

**Traces of You  
** **II:** _Disbelief  
_ **By:** Kat Lee V

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The sound of someone clearing their throat snapped the six high school boys from their shock. They all turned around, and saw a young man standing at where the entrance of the room was, with the curtain drawn back. Most of them recognized the male. Aomine scowled, and stepped forward. "Imayoshi, what the hell is this? What is going on?" He growled. He was getting irritated, masking his confusion and feeling of lost on what was going on.

The raven haired male raised a brow at the call of that name. Then he pulled out a gun, and everyone flinched or reacted at the sight of the dangerous object. Aomine threw his hand to the side, glaring. "What the hell!?" The blue haired boy nearly shouted.

Akashi stepped forward, giving his most dangerous stare at the older male. "What are you doing?" He asked coldly. No one threatened an Akashi, especially when he was with his friends.

"I can see that you look just like our comrades, but it's easy to sense that you are not them." The male that Aomine called as Imayoshi, the former captain of Touou basketball team, visibly had the same fake smile that most could recognize. The raven haired male raised his head a bit, the light reflecting from his glasses. He raised the gun, and most of them stepped back, becoming wary and nervous. They could all sense the aura of danger around the older male before them. "Now, see this? I make the demands around here. And I am not afraid to use it, if you do not comply." No one said a word, nor moved.

The Imayoshi look-alike adjusted his glasses higher, and lowered the weapon. He shifted his stance. "Now, answer me this. Where did you all come from?" He interrogated. He placed a hand on his hip, keeping the gun out and in view of the six teenagers. "Based on your reactions earlier from seeing outside, I could only guess that you are definitely not from around here. Could be that you were Neo-City born, and never have seen the outside." He saw the confused looks among the six younger males in front of him. "Judging on your reactions to that right now, means you do not know what this Neo-City is... So now, " The young man crossed one arm over, and raised the gun up casually beside his head, elbow resting on his other hand. "Depending on your answers, I may or may not act violently." He smiled.

Aomine frowned, watching the older male. He could see that this young man in front of him looked and almost acted like the sadistic ex-captain of his, but he could see in the stiff posture and through the lens of the glasses, this guy wasn't really Imayoshi. This young man looked to have a mature air around him, with some kind of jaded atmosphere. If anything, this man was also cautious of them, and felt threatened, even if he was holding a gun. ' _What the hell is going on!?_ ' His mind shouted, feeling uncomfortable in front of this young man that was now like a stranger to him.

"You see, at the current state, things are very dire here. It's hard to place our trust on people we... do not really know." The Imayoshi look-alike lowered the gun to his side. "From what I gathered, you six just dropped out from the sky, and look exactly like a number of members of ours." He slightly opened his narrowed eyes. "What is it you are exactly planning with those disguises, because obviously I can easily sense that you are not who you pretend to be." He raised the gun again, pointing at them. "If you are all enemies, then you should be aware that you are in the middle of a place that could easily get rid of you all."

When no one answered, the young man raised the gun higher, aiming it the red head who stood at the center. The tension rose. "Someone better speak." The ex-captain of Touou spoke in a low threatening voice.

"It's a stone." Kuroko raised his hands up defensively, and stepped forward. The gun then was pointed at him, and the others reacted, wanting to stop their friend from getting shot. Akashi frowned, knowing that the light blue haired boy interrupted what he was going to say. Kuroko looked directly at the eyes of the older male. "Aomine-kun, Kise-kun, Murasakibara-kun and I were at the hospital, and a little girl gave us this red stone, as a gift for our friend who was in the hospital. We coincidentally ran into Midorima-kun and Akashi-kun, and then that stone was glowing." He explained calmly. "The next thing we knew, we woke up here, and we have no clue where exactly we are. However, you look very familiar to us, but it is easy to tell that you are not the same as that person."

"They're speaking the truth." A voice spoke from behind the curtained door.

When the sheet was pulled back, there stood another familiar male, with gray hair, and apathetic dark gray eyes. Akashi slightly widened his eyes. "Mayuzumi-san."

The older male raised a brow at the call of that name. Then he looked over at the others in the room. "It's true, and I believe their story. They do not belong here, or rather, not part of our world, if you want to put it that way." The gray haired male said, turning to the bespectacled raven.

With a sigh, the gun was lowered and put away somewhere behind him. The older male with glasses carefully watched the six teens that were said to have the same looks as some people he knew. "What is their reason for being here, especially when you can sense that they are not dangerous at all?" He wondered, mostly to himself and the male beside him.

"Imayoshi-sempai!" A voice shouted from behind the curtained entrance. It was suddenly pulled open, and another familiar face showed up. It was a shorter male, with light brown hair, and big dark eyes. He looked like the teammate of Aomine, the shooting guard. The boy looked in the room, and quickly bowed at his waist. "I'm so sorry!" He shouted, with a distressed expression. "B-but, we received emergency transmissions from Fukui-sempai and Miyaji-sempai. They are heading here to base, and request immediate medical attention!" The boy bowed again. "I'm so sorry!"

Imayoshi nodded. "Tell Kawahara-chan and Fukuda-chan to set up beds in the next room, and to stand by." He told, with a smile towards the younger male. "Also, you stay with them, Sakurai, to assist if ever they request some medications." The shorter brunet nodded, and saluted, before running out through the entrance. Imayoshi looked up at the six males, and smiled as he raised his glasses. "Be good boys and stay in here." He told them.

The gray haired male frowned, looking at the other male. "You'll just leave them here without anyone watching them?" He questioned.

A hand came down on the gray haired male's shoulder. Imayoshi smiled. "Thanks for volunteering, Mayuzumi." He grinned. "You'll do a great job in not letting them be seen, right now." The other male frowned. "You know what? Just take them to the Serenity Floor, and I'll talk to the currently assigned kitchen staff to bring some food up."

Mayuzumi slowly exhaled through his nose. "I suggest you send out transmissions to the other groups to return quickly, since it's an emergency." He proposed. "We need to figure out this problem, and what we should do with..." He glanced over at the six males that were still standing at the same spots. "With these doppelgangers."

Imayoshi grinned, and patted the gray haired male's shoulder. "Well, have fun babysitting!" He said playfully, before exiting the room.

Silence soon grew in the room, with a heavy tension settled among them. Mayuzumi looked over his shoulder. "Come." Then he drew back the sheet and exited the room.

It was like the heaviness was lifted, and the six males were able to breathe again. They all looked at one another, unsure what to do. Akashi walked up to the sheet, and exited the room. The others soon followed.

Judging by the design of the hall ways, they guessed they were in some type of abandoned office building. There were no working lights, but light was filtering through the broken windows. There was also some broken exit signs, and a closed elevator they passed by. Most of the doors were gone from its hinges, and there were sheets draped over a few of those doorways.

"As much as you all are curious about what's in this building, it's for the security of this base that we cannot give away anything, until we have our meeting with the other heads of our group." Mayuzumi spoke, as if answering the curiosity they all had, as they looked around. "And yes... you are all still in Japan... Tokyo to be specific." A few of the younger boys widened their eyes at that information.

The oldest male lead them to a stairwell, with the door also gone. They saw that the stairs leading down was blocked off by broken beams of metal and concrete. Akashi watched the back of the look-alike of his former senior from Rakuzan. "Then what would happen to us, if what ever you decide to do with us?" The red head questioned.

"It will all depend." Mayuzumi replied. "We could either drop you off at a Neo-City, abandon you in the middle of no where to survive against the dangers on your own, or off right kill you all."

"What!?"

"Kill us?"

"But we haven't done anything!"

There was fear, anxiousness and frustration with each of the younger males. Mayuzumi didn't react to their protests. "You have to understand, because of circumstances, we do not easily trust others that are outside of our group." He slightly tightened his grip on the rails he had a hand on. "We are small in numbers, and we made a pact to stay together and protect one another, in order to survive in this messed up world, especially among our kind." The gray haired male felt their confusion, even without looked back to see it on their expressions.

They were led out of the stairwell after climbing two levels, and walked into a very open area. The bordering walls of the floor were supposed to be covered with glass windows, but they were gone. They could feel a breeze blow through, and a faint sound of some handmade wind chimes of broken colorful glass, hanging on random places of the ceiling. At the edges of the floor, there were neat long potted rows of some planted colorful flowers. There were aesthetically placed pillars in the space, part of the structure of the building. At the far back corner was a wall, with two tall bookcases, with a hand full of books in its collection. There were also some hanging sheets on clothes line tied around the pillars, running around at random places of the area, adding some decorated appeal to the wide open office space. There were a few tables and mismatched chairs scattered.

"This is the Serenity Floor, a resting place." Mayuzumi stayed close to the entrance of the stairwell, the only visible entry to the floor. He gestured to the others to go in, carefully watching all six of them, as they looked around. "You can do anything you want in this floor, for the mean time, but you can't leave this floor." The gray haired male planted himself at the only entrance, leaning his back against the doorway, like a guard.

After a few silent moments passed, Aomine sighed out loud, and pulled out the closest chair. He roughly plopped down into the chair, and raised his feet up on the table.

Kuroko shook his head. "Don't be rude, Aomine-kun."

Stretching his neck, looking at the light haired male behind him, Aomine gave a bored expression. "He said that we can do anything we want." He grumbled.

Midorima walked up to another chair, close to another table away from the dark blue haired male. He sat down more elegantly than the other male. "We won't be receiving any answers anytime soon, until they finish discussing what our fate may be." He said, while adjusting his glasses. He then frowned. "Oha-Asa did say that Cancer had the worst luck that night..." He mumbled.

The table rattled, and Murasakibara dropped himself on a chair. He sighed, and rested his head over his crossed arms. "Hungry..." He groaned. Midorima shook his head at the tallest teen that decided to share the same table with him.

Biting his lower lip, Kise walked up to a chair at the same table as Aomine, and sat down. "I wonder what will happen to us." He said softly, worry and anxiousness controlling his expression.

Kuroko walked up to the other chair beside Aomine. He looked up to see Akashi leaning his shoulder against a pillar, while staring out the ledge of the floor, at the eerily deserted post-apocalypse city of Tokyo. The light haired boy tore his gaze away, and sat down quietly.

Moments passed, and no one talked about their situation. The only sounds were the light conversations between Kise and Kuroko. No one else moved from the positions they chose, since entering the Serenity Floor. Even Mayuzumi did not move away from his post, at the doorway to the stairwell, the only exit on the floor. He had his attention on a small novel in hand.

"Food is here!" A female voice called out from the stairwell.

Most eyes looked up towards the doorway, and saw Mayuzumi move aside. Three females appeared, and were talking quietly with the gray haired boy. None of them looked familiar to the titled Generation of Miracles, but Kuroko had a sense of having probably met or encountered those females from somewhere.

"I'll take it." Mayuzumi offered in a gentlemanly way.

"No way!" The shortest female among the three loudly exclaimed, and walked past the tall male. "We're fine, thank you very much." The other two females smiled at the gray haired male, and followed the shortest female.

Coming up to the closest table, the shortest girl was the first to place down the tray of food. She had short, layered hair that was flipped out stylishly. She took a glance at each of the boys, and then grinned in a familiar cat like grin with an amused hum. "Oh-ho! Izuki, Furi-chan, Fuku-chan and Kawa-chan were right! They do look like them, but you can definitely sense that they are not them at all! It's so weird!" She mused loudly. The two taller females nodded in agreement.

There was a loud sigh behind them. The three girls looked over at Mayuzumi, who was still close to the only exit. "Word spreads fast around here. Just how many knows of them being here?" He wondered.

Chuckling, the shortest girl replied. "The groups that have recently arrived have yet to know." She glanced over at the two taller girl next to her. "Right, Mitobe?" The tallest female had shoulder length raven hair, with slightly drooping dark eyes. She silently nodded. "Tsuchida?"

The middle height girl smiled guiltily, slightly bowing her head at the gray haired boy. She had shoulder length brown hair, with clips holding back the hair from falling to her dark eyes. "You know how us girls are, always gossiping." She lightly scratched her cheek with her index finger.

Mayuzumi shook his head, and relaxed in his stance. "Koganei-san, you three shouldn't stay here any longer." He sighed.

The shortest female saluted. "Roger!" She looked back at the boys, and gave another cat-like grin. "Enjoy, boys! You're lucky it's Mitobe's turn to cook." Then the three females started heading towards the stairwell, after a wave from the one called Koganei.

Tsuchida suddenly paused at the entry way, and looked at the gray haired male. "Five have been brought in injured: Takao-kun, Himuro-san, Mibuchi-chan, Hayama-chan and Nebuya-san." She murmured softly. "Hyuuga's group responded, and are estimated to arrive in less than 30 minutes. However, we're still having trouble reaching Akashi-kun." Mayuzumi's brows furrowed.

"Oh!" Koganei stepped back, looking up at the older male. "But, I did hear that Kasamatsu-sempai sent an emergency signal, and have an injured Aka-chan!"

The gray haired male glanced over at the silent younger males, who were slowly eating the offered food. Akashi was now found sitting at the same table with Midorima and Murasakibara. Mayuzumi looked back at the three girls, and nodded. "Thanks for the update." Koganei saluted again, and skipped away from view, with the two other taller girls trailing behind.

Leaning back, Kuroko closed his eyes, suddenly feeling light headed, and disbelief. Kise looked up at the shorter boy, worried. "What's wrong, Kuroko-cchi?"

"My teammates... from what I could see, they're all female here." He murmured. "I wonder if that means that others might have... switched genders here, compared to back home."

Kise perked at the idea, and smiled. "Hm, I wonder what else is different here too." He glanced over at that tanned male beside him, and grinned. "If all of Seirin could possibly have changed to girls, would that mean that Kagami-cchi could have too?" He mused. Aomine turned and glared, kicking the blond. Kise yelped in pain. "Aomine-cchi! What was that for?" The darker blue haired boy turned his head away.

"Coincidentally, most names we have heard are all quiet familiar to us." Midorima spoke, wiping his mouth in a neat fashion.

No longer able to keep quiet, the gray haired boy raised his head, watching the six boys. "I will give a guess that all the people you may run into might be familiar to you, however they won't be exactly how you know them." Mayuzumi said.

The red head looked up at the gray haired male. "When will we be able to get answers, and know for sure what will happen to us?" He frowned, and narrowed his eyes. "I do not think I have that much patience anymore, and I want some answers now." Akashi exuded his threatening aura towards the older male.

"Definitely the same." Mayuzumi muttered under his breath, watching the red head. "We are still waiting on the other members of our group." He replied out loud. "The system created among our group and base, we need a majority vote from each member. That is how it is here, but not everyone is present." He explained. "We still need to get a hold of what is really going on, and regroup. If you haven't been paying attention, we're in a middle of an emergency. And our _kind_ takes precedence over your matter." Then silence took over again, as they all let what the older male said sink in.

"They said 'Muro-chin's' name..." Murasakibara murmured, while he laid his head back down on to the table. The food he was offered was already finished. "I want to go home..."

Kuroko looked over at the red head, with his usual deadpanned expression. "We have no choice but to adhere to their demands." Their eyes locked on to one another, as if a silent conversation was going on between the two shortest males among their group.

Akashi tore his eyes away, and stood up. He walked over to the far corner where the nearly empty book cases were. Aomine loudly sighed, and pushed back his unfinished food. He stood up, and headed close to one of the edges. He plopped down, and laid on the floor. He turned his back towards everyone, facing the eerie scene of a dead city. Kise turned to Kuroko, whispering about something, while Midorima was lecturing Murasakibara about his head on the table while they were eating.

Something caught the eye of the dark blue haired boy, before he drifted off for a nap. At two different deserted streets were two groups of people, that were coming down fast. Aomine raised a brow in interesting and awe as those people were riding on hovering motor bikes. The sounds of the motorized bikes echoed through the buildings, alerting everyone of the approaching vehicles.

Mayuzumi pushed himself off the doorway, and stared outside, down at the streets. "They're all finally here." He murmured.

"Knock, knock!" Heads turned towards the entryway, and the familiar face of the one called Imayoshi, appeared, with his usual superficial smile. He looked at the gray haired male. "It's about time for our group meeting." He announced. Then he leaned in closer. "As it turns out, just as certain six guests appeared, six certain members of ours disappeared." He spoke not so quietly, hinting at the suspicion that everyone was starting to accumulate since the six boys showed up out of no where. The two older males turned their gazes away from them.

"Who will watch them, then?" Mayuzumi questioned to the bespectacled male.

Imayoshi grinned, and pulled out a strange device. "Don't worry about that." Mayuzumi raised a brow, and then nodded. The ones that were watching the two older males stared at the unknown device. Mayuzumi stepped back, into the stairwell. Imayoshi pressed the device at the door frame, and looked up at the six boys, grinning. "Sorry, but you'll have to stay here while we have our meeting. Unless you want to jump out from the seventh floor, miraculously survive and walk into your possible doom out in the unknown, you're stuck here."

No one said a word, but a few people had some displeased expressions. Imayoshi gave a two finger salute, and stepped back, into the stairwell beside Mayuzumi. The raven haired male pressed a few things on the device, and then a sheen of green light appeared and separated the two older males from the six younger ones.

Imayoshi raised a hand, and knocked on the green sheen of light. There was a sharp sound that caused a few to wince. "This here is a handy device, creating a barrier of pure and solid energy." He explained. He tapped on the device that was behind the sheen of light, where the two older males were standing. "No one can get in or get out, unless you turn this device off with a key. Sorry, but it's a precaution procedure. Hope you understand." Then he waved, smiling the usual irritating superficial smile. "So, continue being good little boys until we finish with the meeting. Have fun!" Then the two older males disappeared from sight, going down the steps and leaving the floor.

Aomine got up, glaring at the door way. He kicked hard at the strange barrier blocking their only exit. He yelped, and hopped back, while holding on to his aching foot. "It's like an effin' brick wall!" He cursed.

Kuroko stood up from his chair, and shook his head at the taller male. "Idiot. Imayoshi-san already warned us that nothing can get through that. There is no escape, unless we want to climb out from this seventh floor." He looked around, and noticed some tall wooden boards slightly covering what looked like an elevator. "And I doubt that elevator is neither safe nor working."

"And then we'll go where?" Midorima glanced up at the others. "This is the only place where we may get plausible answers, and possibly a way back home."

Aomine sighs out of frustration, vigorously ruffling his head. "Calm down, Daiki." Akashi spoke from the far corner, with his arms crossed over his chest. "Just sit down, or take your nap." The blue haired male clicked his tongue as a response.

"I'm surprised that Aka-chin is so calm about all of this." Murasakibara spoke in his usual lazy drawl.

The red head bowed his head, closing his eyes. "The more easily this situation is being accepted, then the less reason for a panic, which is unnecessary." He replied.

Kise looked at the shortest boy. "You're pretty calm about everything too, Kuroko-cchi."

"What else can we do?" He light blue haired boy questioned, looking up at the blond beside him. "All we can do is rely on these people, since they are the only ones who understands what is going on in this world we seem to have accidentally appear on."

"They could decide to kill us off, or leave us in the middle of no where." Midorima spoke.

Akashi frowned, narrowing his eyes. "I won't allow them. We'll just have to negotiate with them."

"You know, it has been bothering me." Kuroko said, glancing over mostly to the red head. "Even in this dire situation, and observing how tense everyone seemed to carry themselves, like Imayoshi-san and the female versions of my teammates." Kise looked surprised, murmuring on how Kuroko could have recognized those girls were tense, when they seemed so nice and easy-going. "Mayuzumi-san some how was able to believe our stories so easily, that we can't harm them, and realize that we are defenseless."

"He did mention something about 'their kind'." Midorima replied.

"I wonder what that means." Murmured Kise.

Akashi rolled his shoulders, and uncrossed his arms. "We're just going to have to wait until their meeting is over." He frowned, and turned back to the two bookcases behind him. Then nothing of the topic came up again.

It felt like hours have passed for them, not really knowing just how much time. They could only base it on how much darker it was getting, even with clouds covering the sky. They were all restless, being stuck at the one floor, and anxious of their judgment going on among faceless and some nameless people. Murasakibara had been complaining of not eating sweets, until he knocked out to a nap, with his head buried in his crossed arms on the table. Akashi was sitting on a chair close to the tiny library, reading a small, dirty and barely holding together novel. Aomine also fell asleep, lying on the concrete floor, next to the edge of the floor and the row of flowers. Kuroko was close by to him, observing how carefully tended the gardens in the room were. Kise and Midorima sat beside one another on chairs, facing the outside world. The blonde was pointing out familiar places he could recognize whenever he came to the city of Tokyo.

"Hey! Sorry it took long!" A voice called from the stairwell.

All attention slowly turned to the blocked entrance, even Aomine and Murasakibara rouse from their naps. The light from that device was turned off, and the entryway was open again. Two new males appeared, walking into the Serenity Floor.

One male was shorter than the other, probably even shorter than Kuroko. He had short light brown hair, with hair clips pinning back some of the bangs from his wide brown eyes. The other male was like a very good looking model, just like their blonde friend, but he was estimated to be just a few centimeters shorter than Kise. He had pale pink hair, and magenta eyes. He smiled at them, and flashed them a peace sign. "Your sentence has been decided!" The tallest male said, in a silky tone.

The brunette frowned, and elbowed the pink haired male. "Don't call it a 'sentence', you make it sound like we're their executioners." He growled.

"So mean, Sempai!" The pink haired male whined, and wrapped his arms around the shorter male's shoulders.

"Oi! Don't hang off of me, stupid!" The brunet was struggling to push the taller and younger boy off, while the pink haired boy was laughing like it was a game, as he continued to hang off the short boy.

The sound of someone clearing their throat put a pause on the actions of the two new boys, reminding them of their guests and what they came up to do. The pink haired male released the brunet, and stood up straight. The brunet male tugged on his uniform jacket that no one could recognize, and he cleared his throat. "Sorry about that." He looked up at the scattered males with colorful heads. "I'll start by introducing ourselves." He placed a hand on his chest. "My name is Aida Riko." Then he gestured to the pink haired male beside him. "And this is Momoi Satsuki."

The taller male smiled and gave a two finger salute. "Yo!"

Silence evaded the area, as six pairs of eyes slowly widened when the names processed into their heads.

"WHAT!?"


	3. Abandoned

**Traces of You**  
 **III:** _Abandoned_  
 **By:** Kat Lee V

0000000  
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It was not true. It could not be right. The tall handsome looking male with pink hair could not possibly be the counterpart of the big breasted pink haired girl that Aomine was childhood friends with. The blue haired male shot up from his napping spot, and pointed at the guy. "S-Satsuki!?" He cried out in disbelief. "What the hell!? You're shitting me, right?"

The pink haired male blinked, and then smiled widely. "The same old rude and rowdy Dai-chan." He commented softly, with a familial affection in his magenta eyes. He glanced over at the other quiet boys. They all showed their own way of being shocked, by staring at him. They were all taking their time processing that their pink haired friend was a boy in the world they were dropped upon. If ever any one of them wondered what Momoi would have looked like as a guy, they got their answer. And he was just as good looking as their female Momoi.

"Mayuzumi-sempai did warn us that they could recognize some of us, but some of us might turn out differently compared to their own 'home'." The short male brunet said, with a cool expression, carefully watching the six boys. Kuroko stared at the male version of his basketball coach.

Momoi smiled, and clapped his hands. He walked up to the table that already sat the giant purple haired teen. "Well, we have a lot to discuss. So, I suggested that you all be seated for this." He patted the table, smiling in a welcoming manner. The six other worldly boys all sat down around the table without a word, while the two "gender-switched" boys remained standing in front of them.

"So, let's get down to business, shall we?" Aida crossed his arms. "It was collectively decided in our group that, since you are all harmless and confused, we're allowing you to stay in our base with us." Inwardly the Generation of Miracles sighed in relief. "To put it bluntly, you are no threat to us. And we have the means to easily kill all of you in just a snap of a finger." The brunet said seriously.

The pink haired male smiled, easing the slowly building tension, after those words left the eldest male's mouth. "There are many in this base that are not so trusting of strangers outside our kind, or those that do not have familiar auras to us. We stick to our own kind, and will not hesitate to fight those that are not like us, and could be a threat." He could see the confusion growing behind their eyes at the few choices of words they were using in their explanation. "So, please be careful around the base, even if it was discussed in the meeting that you are all defenseless and harmless."

"To be honest, we are only keeping you with us, in order to figure out why you guys appeared, just as our friends, your guys' counterparts, have all disappeared. It could be a coincidence, but if you think about it, it is quiet suspicious to most of us. Fortunately, we can all sense you are no danger to us." Aida shrugged his shoulders. "Plus, a majority of us are not so cruel as to leave defenseless people out there on their own, with no knowledge of what is happening at our home."

Kuroko raised his hand. Aida and Momoi raised their brow at the action. The brunet waved a hand, allowing the light blue haired boy to speak. "How is it you could easily believe our story, though I am not saying that we are in any way lying about our situation? With just a short interaction with us, you were able to know that we have no knowledge of this place at all." He questioned.

Raking his fingers through his bangs, Momoi grinned. "Mayuzumi-sempai, of course." He replied like it was the most obvious answer. "He was the one to confirm it, because he has the power of empathy and clairvoyance."

"Oi! Satsuki, you can't just out right tell them about our powers. That's giving away too much information about us." Aida hissed, digging a fist to the taller male's side.

The pink haired boy laughed, and pulled the older boy's hand from his side, holding on to it. "But Sempai, who would they tell? There is no harm in saying." He shook his head. Then he looked at each boy with familiar faces. "And I trust them." He smiled. The Generation of Miracles were hit with a déja vu of that smile of the pink haired boy's, reminiscent to the one their Momoi would show.

Aida huffed. "You only trust them because they have the same faces as your childhood friends." The brunet muttered with a small pout.

Momoi turned to the others. "I know you have more burning questions, and we will answer them to the best of our abilities, but there is some order of business we need to take care of first." He started. "You'll be assigned a room to share as you all stay here." He looked over at the shorter brunet beside him.

"You'll all be sharing one room, since the roommates of your counterparts would definitely be uncomfortable with 'strangers', though you all look like our friends." Aida explained.

"And don't worry, we'll be sure to give a tour of our base, so you won't get lost, or accidentally go out of the bounds of our barriers." Momoi leaned in, giving an ominous expression. "You wouldn't want to run into whatever is out there, and they are more nasty than what we could ever do to you guys." Then he stood up straight and smiled sweetly.

Kise visibly swallowed, getting nervous, as he glanced outside. "Um... what is out there... exactly?"

Aida grinned widely. "I'm glad you ask." He leaned over the table with one hand. "For the benefit of 'outsiders', we'll give you a crash course of the history of our world! This way, you'll have better understanding as to," he raised his arm and gestured to outside the boarders of the building. "Why our world is in such a state, which I should assume is not like how your home is currently." Aomine and Kise groaned, thinking they were just like in school.

Midorima shook his head. "It's beneficial that we know, so that we won't bother them with questions." He berated at the two idiots.

"We were told that the others in this base are not comfortable around us, so we should not intrude. Now is a good time as ever to get some answers, since we are all curious about the outside." Kuroko added.

The pink haired boy smiled to himself, watching the six boys. "Really, it's like our friends didn't get replaced at all." He murmured softly. The brunet rolled his eyes.

Akashi turned to the two gender-switched boys. "As you were." Urging them to continue.

Then the two boys pulled out what looked like tablets. With a flick of the short brunet's finger on the screen, holographic images appeared around them. The other worldly guests became in awe at how advanced in technology the world they came to was. Especially in the post-apocalypse state it was in.

"It started 80 years ago." Aida began. One image enlarged and went flat upon the table, in front of the group of males. They could see it was a map, and then it zoomed in, isolating the recognizable country of the United States of America. "Chaos first appeared in America, where monsters one day just rose up from the grounds, and started to destroy everything in its path."

There were red spots radiating on the map, and then smaller images appeared to see explosions, people running away with fear, and blood and gore being left behind. There were a few close up images of the black horrifying monsters, only thought up in movies. Then the map was zoomed out, and it became a 3 dimensional image of the whole world sitting upon the table. They all watched as a darkness spread all around, covering the whole world. "Then our whole world became affected, and it was thought it was the end of the world."

Then the images changed, and there were ordinary people fighting back, doing unimaginable things against the monsters. "However, 5 years later, close to the extinction of humans, people with these strange power started to come out, and fought back to save what was left of our world." Momoi spoke.

"Over the years, these people with power started to rebuild the human race, and fought what we now call, Erasers." Aida continued. There were more images of battles between the people with powers and the now called Erasers.

Momoi glanced over, watching each reaction the boys had. They were drawn in by the story and the images. He gave a small smile, and then pressed the screen on his tablet. "Then new cities rose all across the world, a new power was in place for order, as our world grew. They are called the Guardian Fighters, a militaristic group that protects the world from the Erasers. Then academies were built, to raise and hone the skills of the people born and presented with these powers." They watched as dome like cities were built, and then people with strange uniforms appeared. Then there were futuristic buildings, with young people in uniforms, almost like the ones that most of the people wore that they have seen in the broken down building.

"However," Aida continued, with a frown. "Twenty years ago, a newer threat appeared." The brunet briefly closed his eyes, as he swept some strands of hair from his eyes. "There are people that would study these Erasers, and they have found that there are different levels. The higher the level, the stronger they were." He explained. "In the past, it was only known that there were seven levels of monsters. However, 20 years ago, three more levels appeared, and there was devastating destruction." The images changed, and more chaos showed on the screens. "It became written in history as the Cataclysmic War."

"For five years, the Guardians have been fighting these very high leveled Erasers, and it seems like hope was running out." Momoi picked up in the explanation. He frowned morosely. "But then, 15 years ago, the war miraculously ended." He looked up. "It was reported that all the level 8, 9 and 10 Erasers have disappeared, and the world became as peaceful as it could be, with the rest of the leveled Erasers still roaming around."

Aida looked at the taller boy beside him. "Guess we'll go on to explaining about our kind."

Momoi nodded, and pressed his tablet. The images changed. He looked back at the six males, and smiled. "As it was mentioned before, Mayuzumi-sempai has powers. Basically, everyone of us in this base has those powers, and as you can tell, we separate ourselves from the ordinary people that do not have these powers."

"Then comes some confusion, that we hope we can make clear and for you to understand." Aida spoke. "Among us, we get divided into 4 classes, based on the type of Navitas we have." The brunet saw the confusion in the six young males' eyes. "Navitas is the special DNA and energy within the both of us that we were born with." He gestured to himself and the pink haired male beside him. "It is what enables us to fight back against the Erasers, using special abilities that no ordinary human being can have."

Momoi grinned. "It is how we could tell that you are not exactly like our missing friends that you just replaced. That is why most of the people here will be so uneasy around you guys, because you do not have Navitas, like our friends. So you'll be considered outsiders in this base."

Pictures changed, and there were of three undefined people, like the little men figures that signify the male's bathroom in public settings, each glowing with a specific color. And there were ranges in the intensity of the glowing. "Now on to the different classes of Navitas." Aida reached out his hand, and touched the holographic screen with little figure glowing in green. The green aura was less intense than the other two figures. "First is the Gammas. They are people like Mayuzumi-sempai." He explained.

"We like to think of them as the inventors, builders, thinkers or 'ímagineers'. They all have powers pertaining to using their minds." Momoi continued. "They are the ones that can build the barrier device that you saw as used, just on top of their heads, with the correct materials in hand. They could also have some psychic abilities." The pink haired male waved a hand to the air. "There are all sorts of variety of Gammas, and without them, we wouldn't be able to have some electricity, or computers, or any other machines or devices used today."

"Once you meet the others, you'll be able to understand who are Gammas, and what they are capable of." Aida told them, then the images changed after touching the screen of his tablet. It switched to the little figure surrounded in a blue aura, that was bigger than the figure with green. "Then the next category are the Betas."

"They are what you could call the 'lower class' soldiers of the Guardian Fighters." Momoi explained. Then video clips of people fighting Erasers appeared. "They have higher than normal strength, and with greater defense and speed, compared to normal humans. However, they use their Navitas defensively, mostly. When they are on offense, it is usually they could augment their bodies, and amplifying their status, like their strength, speed, accuracy and defense, which differentiate them from the Gammas."

"Then a step higher is the Alpha class, considered more powerful than the Gammas and Betas." Riko continued. The images switched to the little figure with a red aura, that had a more intense glow compared to the other two. "They not only have high stats than the Betas, but they use their Navitas offensively, projecting it out to conjure some form of elemental attacks that Betas cannot do." The boys were at awe when they watched various video clips of people unleashing unimaginable powers, like water and fire out of thin air, as they attacked the Erasers.

Momoi leaned over the brunet a little, grinning. "I'm classified as an Alpha!" He proclaimed proudly. Aida frowned, and bumped shoulders with the younger boy, pushing him off of him. "And within the Alpha class, there is a division between the high class Alphas, and the low class ones." The pink haired male pointed at the six boys. "And, your counterparts are the only high class Alphas known, the strongest among us, while the other Alphas around here are all low class." He nodded. "Be proud that your alternate selves are very strong, especially when," he pointed at the red head. "He is the leader of our whole group of this base."

The Generation of Miracles all looked at their former captain. They did not look that surprised, as such role suited Akashi. Kise raised a hand, and looked at the brunet. "And what about you? What type are you?"

Momoi grinned, and wrapped his arms around the small male's shoulders. "Riko-sempai is a Beta!"

"Oi, Satsuki." The brunet growled, trying to push the bigger boy off. He turned back to the others. "There might be others in this base that will be willing to tell their class of Navitas. We have a variety of Navitas in this base. It could help you to differentiate the classes, once you learn about them more."

Kuroko look up at the male versions of his friends from back home, and raised a hand. "What about the fourth category of Navitas?" He asked.

Aida grinned at the light blue haired boy. "Nothing could get pass you in a tiny detail of information." He shook his head, and frowned. "Unfortunately, there is not much known about the last class, Omegas." He sighed with disappointment.

The pink haired boy lowered his tablet, and the holographic images disappeared. "They are the very rare types of Navitas. Since the start of our History as Guardian Fighters, there were only five known to be classified as Omegas. Out of the whole Asian Branch of the Guardian Fighters, we only know one who is an Omega."

"We won't say who." The brunet butted in. "Since that person is part of our group. But eventually you might figure out who it is, and run into that person." There were a few disappointed faces. The short brunet turned to the pink haired boy beside him. "That reminds me." He muttered softly, mostly for Momoi to hear. "We'll need to remind Susa to make those special cuffs. We'll also need to figure out who could be temporary replacement pillars."

Momoi hummed, tapping a finger on his chin. "I'm sure that everyone that we both have in mind will not protest to volunteering. I wouldn't mind either, since it is imperative that we be the pillars."

Then the brunet turned to their guests. "So, any questions?" He asked.

Akashi swept a few of his bangs from his eyes. "If you are all part of one of those schools you mentioned, seeing as some of you are wearing the uniforms like those students we saw in those images, then why are you all here in a broken down building? I could only guess that you are all in the academy age, the same ages as us." He questioned.

Aida took in a deep breath, and then nodded. "Well, we were eventually going to explain about our current situation, but we thought that knowing about our kind was more important to know first." He placed down his tablet, and then crossed his arms. "Why are we not in either a new city, an academy, or a Guardian base?" He started. "Well, in Japan, there are only three new cities. We call them Neo Cities, and they house the whole Japanese population: Neo Nagasaki, Neo Kyoto and Neo Tokyo." Momoi raised his tablet, and images of the three dome like cities appeared. There were high white walls, and a visible pale blue barrier dome over it.

"The rest of Japan became infested with Eraser nests, especially the north, which is all restricted areas, or demilitarized zones." The brunet continued. "Each Neo City has a Guardian Base close by. However the base of Neo Tokyo was attacked and destroyed recently." Aida raised his arm, and pointed over, past their building. The six all looked over, and saw over the skyline of destroyed buildings that surrounded the little base they were at, they could see another tall broken down building. It was untouched by nature, unlike the buildings that were surrounding them.

Momoi bowed his head slightly, looking a bit remorseful. "People with Navitas are a minority in the world. Out of 15 people, only 2 would have Navitas. However, there is a ratio of 1 human to 20 Erasers, and that's a big difference. But people with Navitas are strong, and have the power to fight against the Erasers, that is why humanity hasn't gone to extinction yet."

"Since the end of the Cataclysmic War, it seems that humanity has been standing on thin ice, when it comes to the distinction between people with Navitas and normal humans." Aida frowned deeply. "Even if it was our kind that saved them, gave them a new home, protected them and even died for them, the majority of normal humans have some sort of animosity towards our kind." When he looked up, the others saw anger. "We became outcasts, as those people believe that they no longer need our help. Most Neo Cities, as so I have been hearing back when we were still in the academy, have been turning away from the Guardians, turning away and keeping out our kind. So we avoid to seek protection from them."

"Also, recently, there have been some rumors going around of strange activities among the Erasers." Momoi frowned with seriousness. "Though the higher ups liked to keep it quiet, many bases and academies around the world have been attacked, and there are no known reports of what may have happened, or if there were survivors." The pink haired male glanced outside, towards the direction of where they pointed out one of the Guardian bases. "A month ago, the Asian Branch bases were attacked. Coincidentally, it was testing month for all the academies, so they have been sending out students to different locations in the jurisdiction of the Guardian Fighters Asian Branch."

"Lucky us, being Japanese decent, we were sent out here to Japan, especially to the Tokyo Guardian Base." Aida continued. "Unfortunately, when we arrived, it was already destroyed, being overrun with Erasers. There was also no sign of survivors, and on top of that, all communications have been cut off. We were not able to make contact with the other two bases here in Japan, nor reach our school."

"So we decided to stick as a group, and build a base here in the old Tokyo, as we try to establish contact with the other bases or our academy. In the meantime, we had to do our duty of trying to preserve the safety of Neo Tokyo, in place of the Guardian base that was built here." The brunet gave a small displeased frown. "And at the same time, we're recovering any information would could find in the Guardian base about its destruction, and where the others are."

The pink haired male smiled widely. "As it was all thanks to our Boss, keeping us together, and organizing a system for our base." He glanced over at the mirroring image of his red headed friend.

Aida crossed his arms, and nodded to himself. "Boss has always been competent and mature." He looked up at Akashi. "It must run in their family, since Akashi-kun is like that too." Then he sighed, shaking his head. "However, I wonder what happened to Aka-chan sometimes."

There was a snort from Satsuki, and he playfully elbowed the older male. "Sempai." He tried hard to have a reprimanding tone, for having tease this 'Aka-chan'.

Kise suddenly raised his hand up. "Wait!" The blond turned to his former basketball captain from his Teikou days. "You said that Akashi-cchi was the leader of your base. But then... you said another Akashi-cchi!?" He looked confused.

Both Momoi and Aida looked surprised, and glanced at one another, before looking at the red head. Momoi leaned over, carefully watching Akashi. "Your name is not Akashi Seijuurou?" He carefully asked.

The boy nodded. "It is." He confirmed.

Then the pink haired boy suddenly pointed at the light blue haired boy. "Are you not brothers, then?"

Kuroko shook his head. Aomine snorted out loud. "That would be the day! Two Akashi? We don't need Tetsu to start acting like him. It will be the end of the world!" Two pairs of eyes turned, and narrowed in a deadly manner at the dark blue haired boy. Aomine nearly choked, and just turned his head away. He was inwardly sweating when certain pairs of eyes were set on him.

Then the light blue haired boy turned to the two males. "My name is Kuroko Tetsuya." He introduced.

"And you guys," Momoi turned to the rest, pointing at each one of them. "You're still Aomine Daiki, Kise Ryouta, Midorima Shintarou and Murasakibara Atsushi, correct?" The rest of the colorful haired males nodded. The pink haired male inwardly sighed in relief. He just didn't want anymore confusion and surprises.

Aida furrowed his brows, and looked at the two that were not brothers. "You're not related in some way, are you?" The two shook their heads as a negative reply. The brunette frowned. "Then, do any of you have at least a sister?" He questioned.

Kuroko and Akashi shook their heads again. "We're both just the only child in our families." The red head responded.

Momoi crossed his arms, rubbing his chin as he was thinking. "I wonder if they have an 'Aka-chan' in their world, then." He muttered mostly to himself.

The Generation of Miracles all gave questioning looks at the mention of the name. "Who?" Kise questioned aloud.

Aida shook his head. "You'll have to find out for yourself later, when you meet the others." He watched the six males. "As it was said before, you'll most likely run into people with familiar faces or names, but they will be different from the ones you have known." He gestured to Kuroko and Akashi. "For example, you two are twin brothers, but in your world, you are not related, and your appearances and most of your personality too. We differentiate the two by calling one 'Akashi-san' or 'Boss', since he's the older twin, and the other 'Akashi-kun'."

"Do you know what happened to your friends, the ones we have replaced?" Kuroko then asked.

Shifting his weight to one foot, Momoi replied. "In the system of our group, we are organized into teams and assigned tasks outside of the base. The team that witnessed all of you falling out of the sky claimed that they saw a black hole appear out of no where, in the air. Then the teams that your counterparts assigned to all stated that they witnessed our friends disappear in front of them. However, there was one team we were not able to get a report on what happened, yet."

There was a sudden knock, and all attention turned towards the entrance of the Serenity Floor. There stood, leaning on the doorway, was a raven haired female, with glasses. She had layered hair style that came about chin length, and looked to be a few centimeters taller than Aida. "Sorry to interrupt, but we're in need of one or both of your help. You're finished with the explanations?" She walked in and stood next to the shortest male. She waved at the smiling pink haired male.

"Jun." Aida greeted. The brunet boy turned to the others, gesturing towards the new face. "This is Hyuuga Jun."

Kuroko widened his eyes in surprise, watching the raven haired girl with glasses. ' _Then, my assumption that my whole team has switched genders is turning to be true..._ ' He secretively looked at the dark blue haired boy beside him. ' _More than likely Kagami-kun would be a girl too, in this world..._ ' He inwardly smiled to himself. ' _This will be very interesting._ '

The eldest male turned to the girl beside him. "Was there something you needed, Jun?" Aida questioned.

The raven haired girl nodded, and leaned closer to the two standing boys. "I came to check if you were done with gathering the information you wanted about the guests." Hyuuga crossed her arms, observing the six boys that have the same faces as her missing friends. "The patients have all awaken, and I remembered that you two volunteered to interrogate them for some answers to what happened." Hyuuga said, directing it mostly to her companions. "Also," She had an irritated scowl on her face. "Aka-chan is missing."

Momoi and Aida sighed at that last sentence. "And she was just brought to the infirmary with all those injuries. That girl." The brunet placed a hand on his hip, shrugging his shoulders. "Honestly, that girl needs a stern scolding." He glared at an imaginary figure in front of him. "Just because her brothers are missing, doesn't mean she can escape from some punishment." He punched his fist into his palm, and briefly glanced over at Kuroko and Akashi. Aida turned to the pink haired boy beside him. "I'll leave the guests with you then, Satsuki. I can handle questioning the patients, and they need all the help they can get to look for that stubborn girl."

The pink haired boy smiled with sympathy, and chuckled lightly. "It might take awhile, especially when Boss and Tetsu-kun are not here." Momoi looked over at the six boys, grinning. "Don't worry about me. I'll look after them." He waved his hand as reassurance.

Aida and Hyuuga nodded, and then bid their farewell, before leaving the Serenity Floor. Momoi turned to the Generation of Miracles, with his hands on his hips. He smiled widely. "So, shall we?" He beckoned for the boys to follow him.

They all started to climb down the stairs, away from the area they were forced to spend most of their time in. Momoi smiled and looked at the others. "So, do you have any other questions?" He asked.

Kuroko looked up at the pink haired boy. "I wanted to make sure." He spoke. "Akashi-kun and I are brothers here in this world?"

"That's right!" Momoi responded in a sing-sung voice. "They are very strong twins, and everyone looks up to both of them. They were the ones that kept us all together, and sane, after all that has happened this past month." The boy then lead them out of the stair well, and across the hall of the floor.

Then the pink haired male smiled softly with nostalgia. "Actually, we all grew up together, in the same orphanage, being childhood friends." He gestured to himself and the other six. He looked ahead, with fondness in his eyes. "Dai-chan and I were like brothers, and have been together since we were toddlers. Then we were placed in the same orphanage as the twins, Shin-kun, and Atsu-kun. By around the age of 8, we all entered into the Guardian Fighters Academy of the Asian Branch, and then met Ryou-kun. We were about 9 years old when he lost his parents, and custody was placed in the same orphanage as us." He glanced over at them, and smiled. "But we've always stuck together. Everyone knew about our group of close knit friends, especially when those six were the strongest Alphas in the whole Academy."

Kuroko's softened, smiling lightly to himself. ' _Even in a different world, our fates have been intertwined. At least that is what I like to think, that it was no coincidence that we all met, and they have became the strongest._ ' He glanced around his friends. Then he looked back at the pink haired male. ' _And I'm pretty sure that Momoi-san would have shared the same thought._ ' He bowed his head. ' _But then... I think there is one more who should be part of this circle of fate..._ '

Up ahead, there was natural light flooding into the halls. The group paused in their walk, and turned their heads, looking out the open, to the scene of desolation. The wall of the side of the building was torn off, with some metal beams sticking out, jagged edges of the broken concrete, and wires hanging. There was some metal strips nailed to create a rail, to prevent people from falling off the open edges of the building.

"As you can tell, our little base is in this old office building in the middle of old Tokyo." Momoi looked out at the barren and bleak scene. He brushed back a few of his bangs from his eyes, when a breeze blew through. "Our base is set up from the third floor, up to the seventh floor." He explained, and leaned carefully over the disarranged railing. "The second floor has collapsed on to the lobby, so we don't stay at those two floors." He pointed down. Kise leaned over to look as well, while the others just glanced down.

Momoi then pointed up. "You already know of the Serenity Floor. It's just a place for us to unwind and relax. All other floors above is all gone, so there is nothing up there." He stepped back from the railing, and threw out his arm behind him, further down the open hall. "This sixth floor is where you will find some work spaces for some of our Gamma members, and some meeting rooms for discussions. There is also a training area further back, if you want to check it out." Then he gestured for them to keep following him leading to another set of stairs, that was out of the side of the building.

"These stairs are the only ones that can lead you to the rest of the floors. The stairwell that we just came from only leads from the fifth floor to the Serenity Floor. This set of stairs doesn't lead to the Serenity Floor." The pink haired male explained. "I hope you won't get confused."

The group climbed down two sets of stairs, and came back inside the building. "This is the fourth floor." Momoi pointed at the side of the wall with a faded number 4 plastered on the floor. "This is where most of the living quarters are found." He then pointed towards the ceiling. "The fifth floor is where you'll find the infirmary, and more work spaces. Below is were the mess hall is, along with the recreational area, and the communal baths."

The pink haired boy continued his walk, leading the group to a place further back in the office building floor. The group of six colorful haired boys saw broken down doors, with sheets covering the entrances. They noticed painted figures on the side of the doorways, each different from the others. Momoi stopped at the very end of the long hall, that seemed more secluded from the other rooms they passed. "This is the Akashi twins' room." He gestured. They all saw the painted red and light blue stars overlapping one another at the wall next to the doorway. There was a black sheet that served as the door.

Momoi pushed back the sheet, and ushered the group inside. "Make yourself at home. You'll be staying here for the duration of your stay." They could see how big and spacious the room was, bigger than the small room they first found themselves in. If they were to give a guess, it could have been an office for a high official. The place was nearly bare, with a single file cabinet against one side of the room. There was a big desk pushed all the way at the end, where there was a big opening that was a window, and two chairs placed beside the desk, its backs to the wall. A thin white sheet blocked the light and harsh winds from evading the room. There was an unlit candle at the center of the desk. At one corner were neatly folded sheets and blankets, with two pillows piled on top. Murasakibara nearly threw himself at the pile of sheets, and stayed there.

The pink haired male tucked back some of his hair behind his ear. He saw Akashi walk up to the filing cabinet. "Oh, don't bother trying to open that. Only Boss and Tetsu-kun have the key to unlock it." Momoi spoke up, and smiled at the curious stares. He took in a deep breath, and stretched out his arms above his head. "I'm pretty sure this has all been tiring for all of you. I suggest you rest up, before diner time."

Momoi turned around, and pushed back the black curtain. "I'll come and bring blankets and pillows for the rest of you. This place is big enough to fit all seven of us, since we have had some sleepovers here." He grinned widely, with a sentimental gleam in his eyes.

"Do you want help?" Kuroko asked kindly.

The pink haired male smiled, and shook his head. "It's okay. I'll be fine, thanks." He replied. "I think it would be better if I went to the other rooms and retrieve the sheets. You see, the roommates of your counterparts may not be comfortable with you guys going in there. They do understand the situation, but they will all feel uneasy, especially when your presence is not the same as our friends'."

Kuroko nodded. "We understand."

Momoi grinned, and winked. "Behave, okay? I'll be back." Then he disappeared after the drop of the curtain.

With a loud sigh, Aomine plopped down beside Murasakibara, leaning his back against the pile of sheets and two pillows. The purple haired boy looked annoyed, and then adjusted his position. "I wish I had some snacks." He moaned. Aomine snorted, rolling his eyes.

Midorima came up to the desk, and reach over to push back the curtain over the window-less opening. "Honestly, this is all hard to discern. This whole situation is unbelievable." He sighed.

"I hate to admit, but there is nothing else we could do about it, but to rely on these people." Akashi sat down on the chair, closer to the green haired boy. He leaned his head back against the wall, and rested his eyes.

Kise walked up to the desk, and his eyes lighted up seeing a pile of pictures. He picked one up, and gasped. "Hey, this looks like us!" He pointed at the familiar faces.

Kuroko came up beside him, peering over at the photo. "They're all wearing the same uniforms. It must be part of the Guardian Fighters' Academy." He raised a brow, seeing more familiar faces in the photo. There was their six counterparts, looking around middle school age. Then there was the familiar pink haired boy, the male version of their friend Momoi. Then there were five other people in that picture, and they were all posed as if they were all close friends, huddling together, and some with arms over the other's shoulders.

The blond turned the picture over and read what was written on it. "Class 1-A, the Japanese descent: Seijuurou Akashi, Tetsuya Akashi, Daiki Aomine, Hiroko Fukuda, Kou Furihata, Kiyoko Kawahara, Ryouta Kise, Shintarou Midorima, Satsuki Momoi, Atsushi Murasakibara, Kazunari Takao, Ryou Sakurai." He listed off the names slowly, then turned it back over at the group of classmates.

"They were all first years, like all of us last year, when we all competed in the Winter Cup." Kuroko pointed out. "And I was right, all of my teammates in Seirin have all switched genders in this world."

Kise saw Midorima and Akashi glancing towards the picture in his hand. He grinned, and handed it to the tall green haired male. "Interested in seeing someone?" He teased lightly, mostly to Midorima.

The green haired boy glared, and took the photo. "No." He looked over at the class picture, and gave it to Akashi. The red head stared at it longer.

Kuroko noticed, and raised a brow, seeing a tiny emotion pass through Akashi's eyes. Tearing his eyes away, afraid for being caught watching the red head, Kuroko glanced down at the other pictures that Kise spread out on the desk. It was mostly of childhood memories, their counterparts when they were younger. Some were candid, and others were them standing in front of a nice house. He guessed it was the mentioned orphanage that the boys grew up in.

"Our counterparts was said to have a sister, and yet I do not see anyone that could fit that description." Akashi pointed out, as he carefully placed a picture down on the table. "Not in any of these photos. It's just the six of them when they were children, and then Kise appears during their Academy day pictures." Kuroko nodded.

"I'm back!" They looked over to see Momoi maneuvering his way in, with a high pile of blankets and pillows in his arms. He pushed aside the black curtain with only his foot. Kuroko quickly came to help, and took some of the folded sheets and pillows. The pink haired boy thanked the shorter male, and then dropped the pile of bed sheets close to Aomine and Murasakibara. He sighed out in relief, wiping the back of his forearm across his forehead. "Hope everything will go well for you all here. And don't worry, we already have some of our members looking into trying to find a way to get you guys back to where you belong."

He placed his hands on his hips, and looked around, checking the place and watching the six guests. Momoi nodded to himself. "You're allowed to explore, but you've been warned that not everyone would welcome you here warmly. Try not to go into rooms that you are not allowed to. They're all marked by those little figures beside the doorways. Rooms with curtains and little shapes beside it has someone living there." He told them. "But the other floors are all mostly open for you to explore."

Then Momoi walked towards the door way. "Sorry I can't stay long to hang and chat with you all. It looks like their asking for more help to find one stubborn girl." He sighed and shook his head. "They're all related after all." He muttered to himself. Then he looked up and smiled at the six colorful haired boys. "Diner is served at the mess hall on the third floor. There will be an alarm going around signaling diner time. We have a strict rule of eating diner together here. You should all be there, so that you could be properly introduced to all the members of our base." Pushing back the curtained door, the pink haired male waved at them. "Have fun! But if you really need me, just ask someone to find me." He gave a two finger salute, and left the group once again.

Silence was broken when Aomine stood up, and loudly yawned. "It's too confined in here." He walked up to the door way, and roughly pushed back the curtain. "I'll be back or something."

"Wait, Aomine-cchi! You shouldn't go out there alone!" Kise ran up to the door, and pulled back the curtain, peering out the empty hallway.

Kuroko walked by the blond, and down the hall. "Might as well go after him." The light blue haired boy said.

"Ah! Kuroko-cchi! I'll come with you!" The blond cried out, and hurried after the shorter boy.

Midorima looked over at the red head. Akashi stood up, and dusted his pants. "I think exploring isn't a bad idea." He thought aloud. "We will need to be familiar of the place we are temporarily staying in for the time being."

The green haired boy adjusted his glasses. "You're right." He agreed.

The two walked towards the doorway, and paused. "Atsushi." The red head called out.

Murasakibara waved a hand, and turned his back to the door. "I'll stay here, and wait until diner." He grabbed a blanket near by, and wrapped around his whole body.

Akashi shook his head, giving a small smile, then pushed back the curtain. He and Midorima walked out their assigned room.

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Frustration and helplessness was all he could feel, while being stuck in an unfamiliar torn world. It was uncomfortable, and Aomine hated it. Since he left the room, he wandered away, feeling lucky that he has not ran into any more familiar faces. He jumped off the rail wall of the outside staircase, and landed on a wide ledge. He looked up ahead, and saw that he was on a bridge. He looked behind, and saw that it lead back into the building, but that floor was the said second floor, where it caved in to the first floor of the building. The bridge looked to have been a covered one, leading to the next building that was just across the street. But the cover was gone, and there was a small piece of the bridge that was taken away. The bridge was littered with broken glass, metal beams and concrete. Nature seemed to have also ran its course, with vines reaching to wrap around the abandoned man made structure.

Shrugging, the blue haired boy walked across, careful to not step on anything that might make him slip. He walked around the broken opening, and made it to the end of the bridge. He looked up to see that the walls caved in, blocking the entrance to the building.

Aomine looked up, suddenly hearing a faint noise. He looked around, and then saw an open gap, close to the edge of the open bridge. He squatted down, and heard that noise again. He raised a brow, curiosity getting the best of him. He ducked his head, and slipped in. When he was able to stand up straight, he fell frozen in place.

There was a battle cry, as a giant blade swiftly cut through a dark humanistic figure. It started to flicker into static, and disappear. Then a solid person became clear of view. Long double tone dark red hair swayed back, revealing gleaming ruby eyes, narrowed with intense concentration. The double forked brows were furrowed, completing the overwhelming and wild aura. Slowly the intensity disappeared, and ruby eyes widened, when it locked on to the shocked pair of sapphire blue eyes.

"Daiki?" A feminine voice called out, with confusion and surprise.

"Ka... Kagami?"


	4. Mistrust

"Daiki?"

Dark red hair, blending with an undertone of a darker shade, was pulled up into a high pony tail, with layers falling down to reach the lower back. Bright ruby eyes glowed in the darkness, and they were rounder and wider, framed with full, thick and long eyelashes. Above were unique split eye brows, but were thinner. The frame of the figure was tall, with full curves, distinguished from the usual body types of young teenagers. Lips were fuller, and tinged with a rosy color. Face was rounder, and softer on the angles.

"Ka... Kagami...?"

The giant blade was roughly pulled out from the concrete floor, and pointed at the person in front. Ruby eyes narrowed dangerously, almost glowing like a wild beast. A scowl marred the beautiful and soft face that was displayed just a few minutes ago.

"Who the hell are you?" The voice growled threateningly. The giant blade was raised higher. "You're not Daiki!"

Sapphire blue eyes glistened.

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 **Traces of You**  
 **IV:** _Mistrust_  
 **By:** Kat Lee V

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The floor plans of the old office building was simple, and not hard to navigate. At least for Kuroko, as he recalled each route that he went by when he was led through by the male version of his pink haired friend from middle school. He found his way to the sixth floor, curious about what was up there, given permission to explore. Following closely beside him was his blond companion, and a model back at their home.

Hooking arms with the light blue haired boy, Kise tugged forward. "Where did that stupid ganguro go? Hope he doesn't cause trouble." The blond sighed.

"I am sure he will be fine. Or else we will be hearing some loud scolding somewhere." The light blue haired boy responded, and paused in front of a room that had no door or sheet covering. He saw some running computers, with wires connected to different machines and monitors. Kuroko raised a brow. "I would have thought that there was no electricity running around here, but I guess I was wrong."

"What are you two doing over there?" A voice called out.

The two slightly stiffened, and looked over to see a frowning male. Kise widened his eyes with recognition. "Sempai!" He seemed to automatically shouted, and smiled widely. "Wow! Sempai is here too!" The blond became excited.

Kuroko recalled that the male before them was the former captain of Kaijou basketball team, Kasamatsu Yukio. He was wearing a white collared shirt, with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows, and black slacks. The raven haired male raised a brow, and then frowned, keeping a strict and serious mask. He crossed his arms. "It's still hard to believe that you have the same faces, voices and personality, but it's definitely not the real Kise and Akashi-kun of ours." The older male spoke.

The light blue haired male bowed his head. "True. And in my world, my surname name is Kuroko." He introduced himself. "But, he is still Kise Ryouta." Gesturing to the blond beside him.

Kasamatsu widened his eyes slightly at the news. "I see. So there are more differences." Then he looked back up at the blond male, who was smiling widely, looking like he wanted to say something, but was refraining himself. "I'll be polite and introduce myself as well. I'm Kasamatsu Yukio. And I'll assume that you already got some explanations about our current situation."

Kuroko nodded. "Yes, we already did."

"Sempai! What type of Navitas do you have?" Kise blurted out, and then shut his mouth tightly. "Ah, sorry! I shouldn't have asked." He rubbed the back of his head, laughing to hide his embarrassment.

Kasamatsu snorted. "Looking at you, I still can't resist trying to kick you." The blond's mouth slightly gaped open. The raven haired male shook his head, and looked up at the two alternate versions of his kohai. "But, I'm a Beta." He finally answered. His stance slightly relaxed. "Were you looking for something?" He asked.

Kuroko shook his head. "One of our friends ran off somewhere, and we went to look for him so that we know he won't trouble any of you."

The raven haired male placed a hand on his hip. "Let me guess, it's either Aomine or Murasakibara... unless they have different names." He muttered the last part mostly to himself, not wanting to mistake their other worldly guests.

Kise grinned widely. "Ah! It's our Aomine-cchi."

The older male sighed, and shook his head. "Personality and mannerisms are an uncanny resemblance." Kasamatsu looked back up at the two males, with his steal blue eyes. "Go on with your search then, as I'll guess that this Aomine is the same as ours. Kind of like a certain missing idiotic girl."

Kuroko raised his brow. "Was it this, 'Aka-chan'?" He carefully questioned. "You're looking for her too, like with Momoi-kun."

"Yes. Sometimes she and Aomine are scarily alike in some aspects, but one is nicer and oblivious, while the other is rude and egotistical." Kasamatsu replied. "Practically the whole base is trying to look for her."

"Who is this 'Aka-chan'? She's the sister of your Boss and 'Akashi-kun', right?" Kise wondered, becoming more and more curious. He knew that Kuroko was as well, especially when it was mentioned that his counterpart had a sister.

Crossing his arms, the older male spoke. "True, she is the younger sister of the twins. And her running out from the infirmary, after returning with injuries from missions, is not a surprise, something that usually reoccurs often. It is usually her brothers that would go look for her, and they could easily find her, because they have that familial connection. But since they are not here, we are all left with that responsibility."

"Shall we help in looking for her too?" Kuroko offered. Kise smiled, eager to do something.

Kasamatsu shook his head. "There is no need to. You should focus more in finding your friends." He looked at the two keenly. "I'm sure that you have been warned about the others not being very comfortable. But I should also warn you that some members here are more irrational than others, and could attack before thinking."

"We'll be sure to remember that." The light blue haired male replied. Kise bit his lower lip, getting a bit worried.

With a nod, the raven haired male began to walk past them, down the hall they just walked from. "Then do be careful, and stray from crossing over the boarder line, if you do decided to go ground floor and out this building." He looked over at them. "This building is protected with a barrier, that is why there are no enemies around, mostly the Erasers." He raised a brow. "You do know of them, right?"

The two nodded. "Momoi-kun explained it to us, and about this world." Kise replied, smiling.

Kasamatsu nodded. "Then just stay within the barrier. It's best you not meet any of those Erasers." He bowed slightly, and turned around. "Good luck in finding your friend." He called out, while walking down the hallway. Then he suddenly paused and looked over his shoulder back at the blond and light blue haired male. "If you need anything or have questions, you could ask for me, if you want." Then he continued down the hallway and disappeared after turning a corner.

Kise sighed out loud, with a hand on his chest. "I'm glad Sempai in this world is nice to us, and accepts us."

"I am beginning to get worried of running into these people that may be uncomfortable with our presence." Kuroko looked up at the blond. "We got lucky that Kasamatsu-san was not one of them."

Looking over at the shorter male, the blond grinned. "Then, let's go look for Aomine-cchi quickly... unless he already did run into someone, and we can picture how that will turn out." He shook his head.

The light blue haired male nodded. "It will not be pretty."

0000000

Going a different direction from the first pair that left their assigned living quarters, Akashi and Midorima found themselves in the fifth floor. They passed by a few open rooms, where one was used like a nursery for plants. There were different plotted plants, placed on shelves all around the room, and a long table at the center.

Midorima tore his gaze away from the room, and saw that Akashi silently continued down the hall. Adjusting his glasses, the tall male followed after the shorter boy. "I am amazed this group was able to survive out here for over a month. To be able to feed all the people in this building, and to not go insane in this deserted place." He glanced over another open room, see some fire arms and some blades piled on top of long tables backed up against the walls.

"I am sure their leader is very capable, and with the unique abilities they were all born with, they could get by." The red head replied, as he continued walking forward. "It is a very organized system within this base. A fine job the leader has done here." He glanced over to see more blanketed doorways.

' _Did he... just praise himself, basically?_ ' The green haired male thought, watching the back of the head of the shorter male in front of him. ' _Most likely it was due to their good luck... but then how will they be able to watch Oha-Asa here?_ ' Inwardly he sighed, feeling a dread creeping into his stomach. ' _I knew I shouldn't have gone out that night, especially when it said that nights were not good to be out for Cancers... but I had to get that item..._ '

Suddenly, the curtained doorway beside them was drawn back quickly. The two stopped in place, and found a brunette girl step out. She had a golden brown hair, that went past her shoulders, with big waves at the ends. The girl was short, with the top of her head stopping at Akashi's shoulders. When she looked up, her dark eyes widened in surprised. Then her expression relaxed, and she was smiling in a sweet way. "Seijuurou-kun." The call of the name had a hint of affection.

There was a moment of silence among them, as they all stared at one another. Blinking her eyes, the girl suddenly erupted into a fitful of red on her face. She pressed her hands onto her cheeks, and started to bow. "Oh my gosh! I'm so sorry!" She gasped. She looked up, her hands still pressed against her cheeks in such embarrassing situation. "Y-you're the p-people we found t-that looks like our f-friends..." She turned her head to the side, fidgeting. "Koganei-sempai did say they were awake... and Momoi-kun and Aida-sempai were meeting with them earlier..." She muttered to herself.

The whole time, Akashi watched the girl with a raised brow from amusement. Looking at her closely, there was recognition from the looks and her mannerisms. He slightly widened his eyes for a mere millisecond, before relaxing. "Furihata." He called out carefully.

The girl jumped, and turned her head, looking up at the red head with surprise. "Oh! T-then you know of me?" She bowed her head, furrowing her brows. "W-we were told that y-you all came from a d-different world... and that t-there might be some s-similarities..."

Akashi recognized the nervous traits within the familiar person, and chuckled softly to himself. "I will admit that you are both similar, but in my world, Furihata Kouki is a male." He replied. Behind, Midorima silently watched carefully of the interaction between the two.

The girl looked up with interest and shock. "Really?" Then her expression slightly fell, giving a shy smile. "You look and nearly act like Seijuurou-kun as well." She shook her head, and bowed. "H-how rude of me, but m-my name is Furihata Kou."

Midorima noticed how his friend's expression changed to a gentle face, something he rarely sees from the red head. Akashi bowed in politeness. "It is nice to me you, Furihata-san. I am Akashi Seijuurou." He replied. Then he gestured to the tall male slightly behind him. "And this is Midorima Shintarou."

Furihata looked a bit relieved, and smiled, placing a hand on her chest. "Oh, t-that's great. You're names are the same, and might make it easy to remember." She laughed to herself, scratching her cheek. "B-but I hope you won't get too confused if we suddenly start talking of o-our own friends."

The red head raised a hand to ease the girl. "Don't worry. We understand if you mention our names, that it isn't us you are usually referring to."

There was a small beeping sound, causing the girl to jump in surprise. Furihata scrambled to pull something out from her pocket, and it was a small circular hand-held device. She tapped something on it. Then she turned to the two boys, and bowed at her waist. "Oh! P-please excuse me, but I am needed." She stood up straighter, with hands behind her back, and gave a shy smile. "W-will you both be okay? Shall I take you to a specific place?" She offered.

Akashi shook his head. "It's okay. We were just exploring your base, to be familiar with the area."

"T-that's fine. But please be careful around here." Furihata replied. "I'm sure that Momoi-kun and Aida-sempai have warned you about others being wary of your presence, and might react rashly."

"That they would attack us." Midorima finally spoke up, as he adjusted his glasses. "We are already well aware of that."

"Don't worry about us." The red head said reassuringly.

Furihata nodded, then bowed again. "Then, sorry again, but I have to go." She gave a little wave at the two. "I would love to hear about your world some time." She smiled shyly, then turned around and scurried off down the hall. Just a few feet away, she tripped, but was able to catch herself from falling flat on her face. She turned around, rubbing her head while blushing madly with embarrassment. She quickly bowed, as a gesture that she was okay, and then ran off faster, disappearing around the corner.

With a light chuckle, Akashi shook his head. Midorima glanced down at the red head beside him. "Curious how you know this Furihata. I don't really recall meeting this person back at home. Must be from your school?" He questioned.

Closing his eyes, the shorter male replied. "Furihata Kouki is a teammate of Tetsuya from Seirin. And how I know him is not really your business, Shintarou." Akashi continued down the hall.

The tall green haired male frowned slightly. "It's not that I wanted details. I was just stating the apparent facts that was clearly observed." He muttered mostly to himself, before he followed after his former basketball captain.

0000000

It was like all the air from his lungs was gone, and Aomine wasn't even sure if he was breathing. He stood frozen in place, struggling hard to not move a muscle, as a dangerously pointy and threatening sword was directed at himself. All sense of fascination and captivation quickly drained away once the gorgeous red head turned into a deadly predator. However, there was no denying that the sight before himself was still very much attractive.

"I'll ask one more time, who the hell are you?" The girl growled, making a point of their position by raising the sword a little higher.

Aomine quickly threw his hands out in front of him, as if to prevent the girl from trying to kill him, and give him time to talk. "Look here, I don't mean any harm. I was just exploring, and found this place. Then I saw you-"

"You didn't answer my question!" She lifted the big sword above her head, and swung it down at the tall male.

Aomine fell back on to his bottom, and felt all his blood drain away. The sword made an indent on the concrete ground, just between his spread open legs, inches away from cutting his precious male package. He jerked his head up, about to yell at the girl, but all words died from his mouth when the girl lifted her sword up again. "Wait!"

Rolling away, Aomine was barely about to escape being sliced in half. He quickly scrambled up to his feet, and dashed away from the line of attack of the next swing from the girl's sword. "There's a misunderstanding!" He jumped away, resisting from squeaking in fright.

"What the hell have you done with Daiki, you imposter!" She lunged forward, but the tanned male barely dodged her sword from being impaled into his stomach.

"Would you listen to me, damnit!" Aomine quickly honed his attention to the only visible exit, from where he came from. He turned around, and widened his eyes. He ducked, and saved his head from being cut off. He looked above his head to see the sword embedded deeply into the wall. Aomine quickly crawled away, and glanced back to see the red head struggling to pull out her big sword from the concrete wall. He rushed towards the opening he came from.

Suddenly, the floor started glowing with a red magic circle. Aomine widened his eyes, and paused in his run, being caught off guard. He looked down, then turned around towards the girl. The red head was glowing fiercely with a bright red aura. She was fiercely glaring at him. "I'll end you right now!"

Aomine's breath hitched, and he backed up into the wall, not knowing what to do. ' _I'm such an idiot! It's all over! There is so much things I haven't even done yet!_ ' He can suddenly feel the atmosphere become suffocating, the temperature greatly rising. The heat was slightly distorting the image of the fierce red head. Sapphire blue eyes tightly closed. ' _I didn't even get to say-_ '

"Hold it right there, Taiga!" A voice shouted, disrupting the train of thought of the tanned male. "You need to cool down!"

Snapping his eyes open, he saw that the red magic circle turned into a light blue color, and the hot arid air suddenly dropped into shivering temperatures. Aomine looked around and saw some ice forming at the edges of the room and the walls, and his breath became a visible puff of mist in front of his face. He turned his head and found an undeniably beautiful raven haired girl, with one visible gray-lavender eye and a beauty mark below it. She was a head shorter than the other girl, with her long hair reaching her lower back. She had her arm stretched out, and palm up towards the red head, the light blue aura fading away from around her.

"Tatsumi?" The red head blinked, and then stood up straighter. She glanced over at Aomine warily, before turning back to the new appearance of the girl. "What the hell is going on?" She nearly yelled, with impatience and anger clearly on her expression.

The dark haired girl swept away some hair from her cheek, only to fall back curtaining her left eye. She raised her head, and crossed her arms as she calmly approached the taller girl. "You ran away from the infirmary before we were given the current explanation of what is going on." When raven haired girl got close beside the other girl, she slapped the back of the girl's head. "You're an idiot! And you go on fighting with injuries like that?" She scolded. Aomine just blinked at the scene in front of him, not really expecting such an action towards the tall red head from the other girl. It was then that he finally noticed the bandages the red head was sporting.

"But Tatsumi! I hate hospital like setting, you know that. Even the small makeshift one we have here." The red head grumbled, with a small pout, as she rubbed the back of her head.

The raven haired girl sighed out loud. "I guess it's a good thing that your brothers are not here, so that you can receive a proper punishment for you stupidity." She muttered.

The red head stiffened in place, and slowly looked up at the darker haired girl. "They're... both gone...?" She nearly whispered, with dread lacing her tone. "T-then... back there in the park... both Nii-san and Daiki..."

There was a concerned frown upon the other girl, watching the taller girl's lost expression. "We need to head back, so that you can fill in the blank spaces that Riko and Momoi-kun need about what happened in your run with Akashi-kun and Aomine-kun." She turned her attention to the tall blue haired male, still glued to his spot against the far wall. "Then you'll understand that the guy in front of you is not an enemy. He may look like Aomine-kun, but we both know that he doesn't _feel_ like him." She then looked back up at the red head. "So with the others, like your brothers and Atsushi." She murmured, and then pat the girl's shoulder.

Aomine shakily released a deep breath, feeling returning to his freezing fingers. The temperature was steadily returning to normal, once the raven haired girl was talking to the red head. The boy realized that he had a taste of the real powers that the people temporarily living in the broken down building had, further erasing the belief that everything was just all a crazy dream. He was beginning to accept that maybe all the crazy things that was forced into his head in that boring almost one hour lecture were not make believe. He really was in some post-apocalypse world, with familiar people that were not really the same people that he recognized and was familiar with. He stared at the female version of Kagami. ' _I can't believe that this version of Kagami is a girl..._ ' He shook his head, snapping away his gaze from the red head. ' _It's one of the only things that can't get through my head, along with the male version of Satsuki._ ' He suddenly felt frustrated.

There was a sound of someone clearing their throat, cutting off the train of thoughts of the blue haired male. He looked up at the raven haired female. ' _If I can recall... this must be the female version of Kagami's brother... what was his name? The one that is in Murasakibara's team?_ '

"We all need to head back." The girl spoke, carefully watching the tanned male. "It's not very safe here, especially when this place is practically at the edge of the barrier we set up." She turned to the red head, narrowing her eyes in a reprimanding manner. "It's very dangerous here." The red head huffed, and turned her head away from the other girl. The raven looked back at the blue haired boy. "I have already heard a short version about your situation. And to not assume, what is your name?" She placed a hand on her chest, slightly bowing her head. "My name is Himuro Tatsumi." She introduced herself.

"Aomine Daiki." He curtly replied in his deep, nearly aloof voice. The two girls looked up in surprise at the name.

"I see." Himuro spoke, breaking a growing tension in the atmosphere, especially from the red head. The raven turned to the girl beside her. "Well, this idiot is Akashi Taiga. She's the baby of our group, so excuse her when she acts like one, practically every minute."

"Tatsumi!" The red head hissed, her cheeks growing red from being teased.

Slowly, Aomine let the name sink in. ' _So... not Kagami at all... of course that's not him._ ' Then it suddenly dawned on him, and his eyes widened a fraction. "Wait... she's the sister of Tetsu and Akashi!?" He nearly shouted with near outrage and disbelief.

The female Kagami glared at the blue haired male. "Yeah, what of it?" She growled, suddenly becoming annoyed and antsy.

Aomine was vigorously shaking his head. ' _Oh god! I can't! This is too much!_ ' The boy honestly didn't know if he wanted to cry or laugh so hard.

Himuro watched with amusement. "I will take a guess that you recognize Taiga from your world, but there are differences. Am I right?" She carefully asked, the topic piquing her curiosity.

"Yeah, Kagami for one is a boy, and he was definitely not related to Akashi nor Tetsu... actually none of them were related at all." He brought his hand to his head, holding it. "This whole world is just bizarre and insane!" He let out a frustrated sigh, and then groaned as he lift up his head. "I really should have just took that damn nap in that room." He muttered mostly to himself.

Himuro pushed back a lock of hair behind her shoulder. "Come on then. Let's get back into the base." She glanced towards one of the broken widows. "It's nearly time for dinner anyways. And someone has to receive a proper punishment with some explanations." She narrowed her eyes at the red head, who flinched slightly.

They all moved towards the hole, and came out into the open air. Aomine looked around, suddenly aware of the ruined familiar city. He shuddered, and then closely followed behind the older girl that was leading them. About a good distance away from him was the red head, also following the shorter girl. Aomine was still reeling from discovering that the female version of Kagami was the sister of Kuroko and Akashi.

"Honestly, Taiga. You sent everyone in the whole base to look for you, leaving the infirmary without a word to anyone, especially in this time of emergency." Himuro spoke. She easily and gracefully jumped over the big gap at the center of the bridge. The red head followed, easily leaping over without any trouble, while Aomine was able to walk around. In reality, no one could easily leap over an opening about 6 ft. (1.82m) in length, without any effort or a running start. The boy was still having a hard time processing that he was in the world with extraordinary abilities that was only thought up in fantasy or sci-fi stories.

"Sorry." The red head mumbled. She looked up at the older girl's back. "How did you know where to find me?" She asked.

Himuro looked over her shoulder. "I vaguely remembered you saying you found a great spot for training, without interruptions or onlookers to Akashi-kun over diner." She replied, and turned back towards the building they built their base. She started to climb towards the staircase at the next floor. "You mentioned that it was close to the edge of the barrier, apart from our base. Then Akashi-kun scolded you for it." She shrugged her shoulders. "I guessed that you were at that place."

The younger girl turned her head, and watched the copy of her friend. He glanced over at her with the same bored expression, which somehow got her irritated and glared at him. She gestured for him to go first. Aomine didn't protest, and started to climb up to the same place where Himuro waited, peering down at the two younger teens. After Aomine was safely on a level floor, the red haired girl easily jumped and landed into the stairwell.

The eldest girl turned to the tall male. "Shall we lead you back to where you are going to stay? Diner is not ready for another hour or less." She asked politely.

Aomine shrugged, and then reached a hand, rubbing the back of his neck. "Just point me the direction, and I might be able to find my way there." He looked down at the two girls. "We were made to stay in that one room of your Boss, I think."

Crimson eyes widened, and suddenly anger overtook the red head's emotions. "What? Why there?" She growled.

Himuro elbowed the girl on her side, and then turned back to the blue haired male. "You're on the third floor. Just climb up these stairs to the 4th floor. It is down the hall to your right, and is the only door with a black curtain." She replied calmly.

Aomine nodded, and turned around. He paused before taking the first step up the stairs, and glanced over his shoulder. Himuro was smiling politely, while the red haired girl was trying to burn holes on the blue haired male with her glares. When their eyes locked, Taiga slightly raised her head, her scowl deepening. "You're not Daiki. And you never will be." She hissed darkly.

Elbowing the girl a little more roughly, Himuro started to scold her in hushed tones. Aomine tore his gaze away, and continued up the stairs. When he climbed up to the 4th floor, he could hear the faint shouts of an outraged red head. Aomine closed his eyes, and sighed. "Yeah well, you're not Kagami either." He muttered.

"Ah! Aomine-cchi!"

The boy clicked his tongue in annoyance, and looked up just in time to see the golden haired boy leap into the air towards him, with open arms. Aomine took a step back, and watched Kise fall flat on his face. "Mou! So mean, Aomine-cchi!"

"Where have you been, Aomine-kun?"

Jumping back more, Aomine looked up and took notice of the light blue haired friend of his. "Geez, Tetsu!" He placed a hand on his racing heart, and took calming breaths.

Kuroko raised his brow, carefully watching his friend. "Did something happen?" He questioned, and noticed the boy slightly stiffen.

"Nothing." He grumbled, and pushed Kise to the side, just as he was getting up from the floor. "I'm heading back. Get me when diner is going to start, or not."

Kise straightened himself, and watched the tallest male disappear into the shadows of the broken down building. "Definitely something happened." He mumbled. Kuroko silently stared into the darkening hall.

0000000

When diner came, it was not hard to miss nor ignore the said alarm that called all the members down for diner together. It was more of a one long loud digital beep sound, that seemed to echo along the walls of the old office building, coming out from the intercom speakers that the Generation of Miracles didn't believe were working. Like the lights in the buildings.

Sometime before the alarm, Kuroko and Kise ran into Akashi and Midorima, all deciding to return to the room where Aomine and Murasakibara were. Just as they thought, they found the two napping. The biggest among them was nearly wrapped in a cocoon, hogging almost all the blankets. Aomine was left with just one pillow for his head. That time was spent in talking about the places they discovered within the base. When the alarm sounded, nearly everyone jumped in surprise, even Murasakibara and Aomine jumped up from the floor. Then Momoi appeared to pick them up, and lead them to the mess hall.

Kuroko looked over at the tall pink haired male. "Did you find who you were looking for, Momoi-kun?" He suddenly asked, as they were led to the stairwell, descending down to the next floor.

Momoi sighed, but gave a smile over his shoulder to the shorter boy. "Yeah. And we made sure she got a lot of scolding, and the sempai are still trying to think of a good punishment they could agree on for her." He shook his head, but there was still an affectionate smile upon his face. "Honestly, she's very stubborn, like her whole family." He glanced over at the light blue haired boy, and smiled.

They came upon a double door. Momoi pushed it open, and there was a flood of light that nearly blinded the boys. When they looked up, they saw a big room. There was long tables, set up in an almost rectangle fashion, but with one end open, and with a small gap at the center, enough to fit two people to walk through. The chairs were placed outside of the rectangle, so that it could have a good view of the people around. There was a head table, already filled with seven people sitting there. People were gathered around, sitting or standing, while talking to one another. It became suddenly silent, as all attention turned to the group of colorful haired males. Most were able to see the uneasiness that most of the people in the room held, as they watched the boys at the entrance to the mess hall.

The pink haired boy grinned widely, and walked in. "We're here!" He took in a deep breath in, sniffing the air, and then breathed out in satisfaction. "It smells great! What's for dinner, I'm starving!"

Noise filtered into the room, but the volume was lowered, as eyes glanced over at the six boys standing still at the entrance. Momoi turned around, and beckoned to them. "Hey now, don't be shy. Come sit!" He pulled back a chair, and patted the end table, with open chairs.

Akashi moved first, with the others trailing behind. The red head sat beside the pink haired boy. Then the others took their seats, and saw that the table was already set, with some plates of food in front. Beside the red head was the tallest male, then Midorima. After the bespectacled male was Kise, then Kuroko, and Aomine all the way to the end.

Akashi looked up, and saw the female Furihata, sitting at the other side, and almost at a diagonal from him. She was sitting between two other girls, and was shyly waving at him. He gave a small bow of his head, returning the greeting. He watched as the two taller girls pulled her in to a whisper, as if prying information out of her, reminiscent to the group of girls huddling around secretively back in middle and high school.

Kuroko glanced up and scanned the whole room. All the faces in the room were familiar, and like he theorized, they were all the major team basketball players and members of each of the Generation of Miracles' current basketball team, back during the Winter Cup. However, he was a little more surprised to see a few more females, and they all had some recognizable faces. There were none of his own team mates from Seirin, at least not the male versions. ' _If Kagami-kun was part of this world... why have I not spotted him, or someone looking like him. He won't be that hard to miss... right?_ ' He resisted leaning over the table to look past the three tall males to his left.

Something caught Midorima's attention, and he looked up across a familiar raven haired boy, with the same playful grin, waving at him. The green haired male snorted, and looked away. There was a loud boisterous laugh that was also the same as the one he knew from back home. Murasakibara was itching to start digging in, but was being carefully watched by the red head beside him, who prevented him from starting to eat. Aomine rested his chin on his hand, with this elbow propped on the table. He stared off to the side, facing away from all the people, with a bored, yet also an annoyed expression. Kise looked around, smiling, trying to mentally name all the people he recognized. But though not very noticeable, he was fidgeting from the awkward tension that was in the room, knowing that most of the people were feeling uncomfortable from their presence. ' _I wonder if the others feel it too..._ ' He glanced over at the light haired boy beside him. ' _I'm sure Kuroko-cchi and most likely also Akashi-cchi feels it. It is kind of hard to ignore..._ '

The sound of someone clearing their throat caught everyone's attention, towards the far end of the room. The General of Miracles all recognized the person at the head as Imayoshi from Touou. The young man adjusted his glasses, waiting until the conversations simmered down. "As to not beat around the bush, as you can see, we have guests, and please, try not to be too unwelcoming." He gave his usual superficial smile. There were small movements among the crowd. "As it was already discussed, they are pretty much harmless, and they will stay with us, until we figure out a way to bring back our own people that went missing." He looked around the room. "So over time, do introduce yourselves, when you get the chance."

Momoi leaned against the red head beside him. "As it turns out, with Boss gone, Imayoshi-semapi, along with Outsubo-sempai," He pointed to the recognizable former captain of the Shuutoku Basketball Team. "And Kasamatsu-sempai will be taking charge of our base, sharing responsibilities." He whispered. Akashi lightly nodded.

The bespectacled male raised a hand, in an inviting gesture. "Let's eat, shall we?"

Then the noise began again, as people started to settle down in seats, or resumed their conversations with their companion. Without being told twice, Murasakibara was the first among his friends to grab some food into his plate. The other 'Miracles' soon followed, but in a more subtle and polite way.

Kuroko once more scanned the room, trying to name each person he saw, and trying to figure out which of the females were his teammates. Kise knocked elbows with the shorter boy beside him. "All my teammates from last year are here: Kasamatsu-sempai, Kobori-sempai, Moriyama-sempai, Haykawa-sempari, and even Nakamura-sempai." The blond pointed out.

The light blue haired boy nodded, and gestured to the direction across from them, at the small clusters of girls sitting beside one another. "I figured out that all those girls across us are my teammates from Seirin." He remembered Tsuchida, Mitobe and Koganei from earlier, during lunch time. Then there was the two girls sitting beside a shorter girl, whom Kuroko thought looked like his fellow same grade team mates. He didn't miss when the shortest among that trio waved at their general direction, mostly to a certain ex-team captain of his from Teikou. Then there was a long haired raven haired girl with narrowed dark eyes beside Tsuchida, whom he wants to guess was Izuki. "They are all girls here in this world."

Kise looked around, and leaned a little forward, looking at the other end of the table. "Oh! I can see Kagami-cchi." He whispered with excitement. "Wow! Who would have thought he would make a really pretty girl." He chuckled. Kuroko tried to not look so eager to see his current Light.

"Apparently, that's the infamous 'Aka-chan'." Aomine spoke in his usual aloof tone, picking on the stray green bean on his plate with his chopsticks.

"No way! Really?" The blonde gasped, looking over the light blue haired boy's head, towards the darker blue haired male. "So you ran into her? And she's the sister of Kuroko-cchi and Akashi-cchi of this world?" His jaw was nearly hanging in shock.

"Yo!"

The six young boys from a different world all looked up, and there stood the familiar point guard, and partner of Midorima, from Shuutoku. He was grinning widely, and flashed a peace sign, before pulling up a chair and sitting in front of them.

Momoi's expression brightened at the sight of the raven haired boy. "Oh, Kazu-kun!" He leaned his weight on to his elbows, smiling. "Decided to settle in the no-man's land?" He asked in a teasing tone.

The raven laughed, and started to place some food on to his plate that he also brought over. "I couldn't resist meeting the guys said to be from a different world, that looks exactly like our buddies." He have a short wave. "By the way, I'm Takao Kazunari." He started to pick up some vegetables with his utensil. "Call me as you wish."

The pink haired boy gestured towards their new guests. "They all practically have the same names, except for Tetsu-kun." Momoi leaned in and looked at the light blue haired boy.

Kuroko bowed his head in an almost formal matter. "I am know as Kuroko Tetsuya, and I have no relation at all to Akashi-kun." He gestured to the red head beside Momoi.

Takao looked shocked, and then quickly grinned widely. "Wow! That's a surprise." He took a bite of some of his food, and made sure to swallow after a few chews. "Then is either of you related to Aka-chan?"

Akashi shook his head, this time replying. "We're both the only child in our families." Takao whistled in reply. As if sensing being talked about, the said red haired girl looked at Takao, and raised a brow. The raven haired boy winked, and waved at the girl. The others, who didn't notice before, looked over at the tall red head, and were shocked at the sight.

"Kaga-chin?" Murasakibara carefully questioned. He narrowed his eyes and saw another female beside her, with her long bangs covering her left eye, and a familiar mole under her right eyes. "...Muro-chin...?"

Takao watched with interest at the reaction of the six boys. "Why so surprised? And who is this 'Kaga-chin'?" He prodded.

"That's the nickname that Murasakibara-cchi calls Kagami-cchi. And Kagami-cchi is that red haired girl all the way at the end of this table... and she's a boy in our world." Kise replied.

Laughing out loud, Takao threw his head back. "Oh my gosh! Really? I would love to see Aka-chan... or rather this Kagami!" He was trying hard to imagine this male version of the said red haired girl.

"And it seems that Murasakibara-kun is even more surprised that Himuro-san is also a female here in this world." Kuroko noted out loud, now having a clear view of the two girls at the end of their table.

"Even Himuro-sempai!?" Takao covered his mouth, holding in his laugh when he spotted the girl look at him at hearing her name. He was shaking his head at her, as if motioning that it was nothing. Takao cleared his throat and was still smiling from the discovery.

Momoi was smiling. "Apparently I'm a girl in their world, you know." He said. Takao started to laugh more, holding his aching stomach.

That whole dinner had the topic of the differences of people between their worlds, and what changes there were. The General of Miracles found out that the names of their teammates did not change at all, except for the gender changed ones, but their surnames were still the exact same. Akashi was introduced to the rest of his Rakuzan team, where the three titled 'Uncrowned Kings' also switched genders in this world. For Murasakibara's Yousen team, it was only Himuro and Fukui that were females. The rest, for Kise, Midorima and Aomine, they didn't change at all.

When dinner was close to ending, some people began to get up and leave the mess hall, as it was not their turn to clean up that night. Takao was waving at them, as it was his turn for clean up. One person in particular, as she was passing by the six guests, was watching them with narrowed eyes. Himuro pushed the tall red head forward, and scolded her when they passed through the doors. Takao sighed, and waved his hand. "Don't worry about Aka-chan."

"Yeah, out of all of us, she has more reason to feel very uncomfortable with you guys around." Momoi spoke, as he stood up, picking up plates that were close to him.

"Because of that familial bond with her brothers, correct?" Kuroko carefully asked.

It was not missed of the looks that Momoi and Takao silently shared. "Most likely, but because she's also... how could we put it...?" The raven haired boy furrowed his brows, rubbing his chin.

"She's very sensitive to sensing Navitas, especially with the strong Navitas that your counterparts have." Momoi filled in. He glanced over at the six, seeing if they understood. "If you recall, our missing friends all have the highest level of Navitas. And since it is not felt anymore, Tai-chan would be very uneasy around you all."

"And she's a hothead, and would react irrationally." Takao pointed out. "So be careful around her." He warned. Aomine scowled, recalling his first meeting with the girl.

0000000

Once seven in the morning hit, the loud meal alarm went off, awakening any that were still asleep, especially most of the guests from another world. They mostly had the hardest time to getting Aomine and Murasakibara from bed, but with the threat of not eating until diner was said, they both reluctantly left the hard ground of a makeshift bed.

Breakfast was almost the same as it was at diner, but the people in the mess hall had changed spots, talking to other members that they were not able to talk to last night. However, Takao and Momoi stayed near the other worldly boys, along with Sakurai, Furihata, Fukuda and Kawahara. They were known as the Class 1-A students from that picture that was in the Akashi Twins' room. And they were a close knit of friends, having been in the same class since they all entered into the Academy, even calling each other by first names. They started to share stories of last year, how they first entered into the Advanced Level in Guardian Fighters Military Academy. That was when the Generation of Miracles mentioned basketball.

"Oh! I think I recall that sport." Takao said.

Momoi grinned. "It's that one sport that Daiki likes to play at his spare time." He chuckled to himself. "He tried to get the others into it, but they were not that interested, having other things in mind than spending their free time in playing that game." The pink haired male sighed. "If it's not sword training and sparing, then its all basketball or 'dirty magazines' for Daiki." The others laughed, seeing just how almost similar their Aomine was with the other Aomine.

Inwardly, the said blue haired male was frowning at the thought that this other Aomine wasn't very serious about basketball. He understood that in this world, fighting to protect the world and humanity was more important that taking up a sport as a possible future career. For them, all they could see in their future was fighting upon fighting. ' _But... he never could let go of basketball..._ '

"But, I recall that Aka-chan was hooked into it too, because of Daiki-kun." Fukuda mentioned.

Kuroko and Aomine seemed to react to that bit of information, and glanced over at the red haired girl, sitting at the far end corner, with a good view of her face. The light blue haired boy's expression softened, hiding his small smile. ' _Not only with Aomine-kun, but also with Kagami-kun, basketball is still part of their life. What a coincidence._ ' He mentally chuckled at the thought.

After breakfast, it was told that for the guests to stay with them, they have to have some responsibilities, like chores, so that they could earn their keep. Kise, Midorima and Aomine ended up having to help clean up after breakfast, much to the blue haired boy's chagrin. Everyone else moved out on to their own tasks.

Akashi was found standing within the shadows, close to the entrance to the only stairwell that led to the second floor. He was leaning against the wall, observing as a majority of the members were exiting the building, and going out and away from their base. As it was told, the second floor collapsed, with only a safe amount of a ledge boarding around the walls. Akashi could see that there was a man made stairs to lead to the ground floor, and a hole through the ruins leading to the exit of the building. The members were filing out, and then splitting into groups, pulling out what looked like some kind of hovering bike.

There was Imayoshi, with Himuro and a certain red haired girl beside him. Standing in front of them was Kasamatsu and Momoi. There was a stern expression on the copy of Kaijou's ex-captain. "This is your punishment, Aka-chan, you can't come with us." Kasamatsu firmly said. "It was decided by all of us."

The girl pouted, and crossed her arms. "I can't stay here! I'm okay now! I can help you all!" She protested.

Momoi reached a hand, and placed it on her head. "Come on now, Tai-chan. It's better if you stay here, and plus, as it was said, this is your punishment, you know?"

"And you're given a different task, since your usual partners are not here." Imayoshi spoke, turning to the younger sister of the Akashi Twins. "You'll be watching over our special guests, until we figure out how to bring them back to their world, and we get back your brothers and the rest."

"But, I don't want to babysit!" She nearly whined.

Himuro shook her head. "It's not babysitting." She looked back up at Kasamatsu and Momoi. "Don't worry, I'll be watching over her."

The pink haired male looked at the older girl with concern. "You'll be alright? Maybe I should stay, or ask Kiyoshi or Mibuchi to also stay."

"I'll be fine." The girl raised her left wrist, slightly shaking a cuff that was on it. It was not missed of the guilty expression the taller girl had when she saw the cuff.

Kasamatsu nodded. "Our group won't be long, so Hayama will be here earlier than our usual time of returning." He told.

After exchanges of 'see you later' and wishes of being careful, the members left, going pass the boarders of the barrier that seemed to be visible for a few seconds when they went through it. Imayoshi patted the red haired girl's head, before turning around and climbing his way back to the second floor and to the stair well back up to the other floors. The bespectacled male grinned when he saw Akashi standing there. "Hope you're not planning to run away." He spoke in a slight teasing tone.

The red head grunted. "I was merely observing." He replied curtly with closed eyes. The older boy disappeared into the stairwell after a small chuckle. When Akashi slowly opened his eyes, he saw the two girls nearly reaching the top.

Himuro smiled politely. "If you we wondering, they usually don't come back until sun down." She offered. "They mostly do some supply runs, information gathering, or clearing the area within a 10 mile radius of our base."

"I see." Akashi responded in understanding.

"And these are the people that I would assume have Beta and Alpha Navitas." A voice spoke beside the red haired boy. The two girls and Akashi seemed to have jumped in surprise. There was Kuroko, standing next to the red haired boy.

"What the-!?" The red haired girl pointed at the light haired boy. "Where did you-?"

"I have been here the whole time." Kuroko responded in his usual flat tone.

Himuro curled her hand, and pressed it over her lips, as she laughed lightly. "Just like Akashi-kun, even if you don't have any Navitas." She then dropped her hand, and looked up at the two boys. "As for your observation, yes, it is usually the people with Gamma Navitas that stay here to watch over the base, or as standby, if any of the others need help." She explained.

Akashi glanced over at the said sister of his other self. "I was wondering, if this 'Akashi-kun' of yours was said to have Alpha Navitas, then how is it he still slips your radar, if you're able to sense Navitas?" He curiously asked. He knew that Kuroko himself wanted to know too.

"Because Aniki and the others' Navitas can overwhelm the Navitas of Nii-san, since he has more control to easily suppress his very well." The red head replied. Akashi and Kuroko could recognize the expression of distrust from the girl. "But, when I want to feel him, I can feel him because of our close connection." The girl sighed, and rubbed the back of her head. "Why, am I even explaining it to you who have no Navitas or not from this world?" She grumbled with irritation.

Himuro frowned, and pinched the girl, causing her to yelp. "Taiga, stop being rude!" The older girl turned back to the two boys, and smiled. "Please excuse this girl for her behavior. She is normally not like this when her brothers are around, and they are definitely very good examples, which I will guess that you two are like too, very polite and good mannered."

Akashi shook his head, raising a hand. "It's alright. We were explained about her sensitivity to Navitas, and that with her brothers and the others with strong Navitas gone, she will be uncomfortable and agitated."

"And plus, her brothers are gone, her own family." Kuroko added, carefully watching the fallen expression of the tall red head.

The raven haired girl smiled. "Yes, very much like the twins." She then offered out her hand. "I don't know if I have introduced myself properly to you two, but I'm Himuro Tatsumi." Akashi took the hand first, and firmly shook it. Kuroko just bowed, a little awkward at the foreign greeting that was recognizable in the business and political world and mostly in America. Himuro looked amused, but bowed back.

Then she turned to the taller girl beside her. "I'm sure you have heard a lot about her, and I also overheard that one of you is not really an Akashi, am I right?"

"That is correct, my name is Kuroko Tetsuya." The light blue haired boy bowed against in greeting.

"And I'm still known as Akashi Seijuurou." The red haired boy added, also bowing in politeness.

Himuro smiled, and gestured to the girl beside her. "This grumpy girl is Akashi Taiga, the one that almost everyone here calls Aka-chan."

"Just call me Taiga." The red haired girl responded with a grumble. "It would be better for my head if you all called me that, because it would be too weird to hear anything else from your mouth." Then Taiga climbed up, and walked passed them. "I'm heading in." She muttered, and disappeared within the stair well.

Himuro sighed, and looked up with an apologetic smile towards the two boy. "Give it a little more time, and she will eventually open up to you all. Taiga is a really nice person, but she has some issues dealing with strangers..." She combed her fingers through her long hair, pushing it back over her shoulder. "I guess she just took it really hard when her brothers are gone." Then she motioned for them with her hands. "Come on, let's get back upstairs. You shouldn't stay down here." She ushered them into the stairwell, and closed the door.

0000000

Roaming around, after finding some light snack for lunch, Aomine was exploring the sixth floor. They were told that usually, at lunch time, everyone didn't have to eat together, and should fend for themselves on what they want to eat. Just as long as they write what they ate, because they keep an inventory of their food stock. Of course this caused some complaints, especially for a certain purple haired giant.

Recalling that there was a training room, Aomine thought he would see what was there, since he overheard some of those girls that were left behind chattering about some people using the training room at around the current time. He got curious as to what the people do on their spare time, if it wasn't basketball. He really had a hard time processing that everyone in the building, all part of the high school basketball team, not spending their energy in practicing, like how he was used to back at home. It wasn't like he would practice much, but he remembered everyone else working hard, so that they could win that cup in the tournament. He shook his head, and continued down the halls.

There was a familiar sound that caused him to pause in his walk. Aomine raised his head, to see a wide open door, with light filtering out into the darkened hall. There was that familiar sound that seemed to comfort his mind. He walked up to the door, and carefully peeked into the room. His eyes locked on to the orange ball hitting the rim of the basket, circling around, before it fell out. A curse followed, and Aomine's attention turned to the tall red haired girl, standing across the room.

The room was an open space, with two big holes on the wall, leading to the outside, and the ceiling seemed to have been taken off, with the next floor above very open. If Aomine had to guess, they would be in a working floor, but it was cleared of all the desks and dividers. At one end was an old looking basketball hoop with on net, bolted on to a plain wooden plank, and planted against a beam. Taiga, the only one present in the room, was at the other end of the room, as if she was outside the three point line. ' _So... it's like a half court, huh?_ '

The girl picked up the ball, and shot it from her spot, and this time it made it in. Aomine froze when he saw the small smile, suddenly recalling Kagami's look when he made a shot. The boy suddenly shook his head, and decided to walk into the room. Taiga just picked up the ball, and stiffened, jerking up to look at the intruder. Her expression quickly changed with a scowl and narrowed eyes. "What are you doing here?" She grumbled.

Aomine raked his fingers through his short hair, then shrugged. "Walking around." He simply replied, then stopped closer to the basket. "You play?" He raised his hands, as if waiting for the ball to be passed to him.

A bit skeptical, Taiga watched the tanned male with a raised brow. "Maybe." She did a quick pass of the ball towards the boy, who easily caught it.

The tall male grunted a bit when he received the ball, feeling the force of the throw, which was not as soft as it usually would me, maybe more forceful that Kuroko's Ignite Pass. ' _Must be because of her powers... or she really does hate me..._ ' Something in his chest twisted at the thought, especially when looking at those mirroring eyes. "First to five wins, then." He bounced the ball, which was off, and he frowned a bit distastefully. "Don't cry if you lose.

Crimson eyes glared hard. "What did you say?" She growled, taking the bait and getting riled up, just like a certain red head back home. "I don't cry, and I hope you won't, idiot!" She charged at the boy with incredible speed, unlike how normal girls would. Aomine smirked, feeling an exciting tension.

In the end, Aomine won with the score of 5 to 1. He watched as the girl was glaring hard at the ball in her hands. The blue haired boy scratched the back of his head. "I don't want to play anymore."

Taiga quickly turned around, looking outraged. "Huh? No way! I want a rematch! I can beat you!" She shouted, with burning crimson eyes, taking the challenge. She definitely still had some fight left in her.

Aomine sighed, watching the girl. He would admit to himself that the girl was okay, catching up with him in speed, and did well in blocking. She even had those high jumps that were reminiscent to her male version. However, she still lacked skill, which he would believe was because most of everyone's focus in the base was gaining skills in fighting. But, for someone who recently started to playing, she was really good, and she still had a lot of stamina, not looking a bit winded.

"Not interested anymore. The ball is flat." He casually said, stuffing his hands into his pocket. Taiga huffed, starting to grumble under her breath, while glaring at him. "Since when have you started playing basketball?" He then asked.

Perking in surprising, the girl blinked her eyes, before slightly tilting her head with a finger pressed against her temple. "I guess since my first year in the Academy. Daiki introduced it to me, and taught me..." Her voice trailed off.

Aomine watched the girl's expression turned into guilt and sadness. Then the girl suddenly shook her head, and let the ball fall to the ground, rolling away from her. "I have to go." She muttered lowly, walking passed the boy, without another look.

Watching the girl turn the corner, disappearing from view, Aomine walked up to the ball and picked it up. He tossed the ball with one hand, and it easily made it into the basket without much of a sound. "Very much not same... but somehow... they still are..." He murmured.


End file.
